Variety has an article on youth & student film festivals.

“When students make films, it;s less to reach a wide audience, as may be expected at some of the more established film festivals,” he says. “They’re not trying to please anybody, they’re just trying to find their own voices.”

Today is everybody’s favorite amateur filmmaker Robbins Barstow’s 90th birthday, and in tribute, the governor of Connecticut (Robbins’s home state) has decreed this to be Dr. Robbins Barstow Day!

“Whereas, in tribute to his lifelong brilliance as an amateur filmmaker, ten of Dr. Barstow’s family chronicles have been registered by the Library of Congress, and his 1955 “Disneyland Dreams” [sic] (featuring a cameo by then-teen actor-comedian Steve Martin) has been named to the National Film Registry as one of the finest examples of the home movie-making genre.”

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam recently posted the only moving images of Anne Frank to their YouTube channel. The date is July 22, 1941 and the girl living next door is getting married. Anne is seen leaning out her window to look around.

Anne Frank House YouTube channel & Anne Frank House

The BBC has forwarded the following message about their search for American home movies for a forthcoming series.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is looking for home movies in connection with a major documentary television series it is making on the changing nature of the ‘American Dream’ from the end of the Second World War to the present day. It’s a story of both the vision and reality of the dream. Any home movie footage, either in black and white or color on any format, shot between 1945 and the present day is potentially of interest to us. We are looking for  footage that can illustrate each decade of America’s post-war domestic history. The films can be family home movies or any other kind of amateur film. In order to reflect the vast range of experiences in post-war America we are keen to feature films from a wide variety of locations from across the United States and films that illustrate a wide variety of social and economic backgrounds. The series will cover many aspects of American life since 1945 including: all aspects of family life, life in the suburbs, life in the American South before the civil rights movement; religious activity; the automobile and the open road; Native American lifestyles; African American lifestyles; wealthy American lifestyles, the civil rights movement, and footage that illustrates the lives of women, the counterculture and gay lifestyles. We are also hoping for some surprises, footage that for one reason or another takes our breath away. If you have footage that you think might be of interest to us, no matter how ‘ordinary’ it seems, please contact the executive producer of the series, Peter Molloy, at peter.molloy@bbc.co.uk

NPR’s All Things Considered recently broadcast a story by Phil Nohl of Sheboygan, Wisconsin about his collection of home recordings.

Listen to complete recordings of records that were included in the NPR piece on Phil’s personal website.

Source: Snapshots in Sound

Home Movie Day! Saturday October 17, 2009.

Thanks to Robbins Barstow and George Odell of TFG Film & Tape (both from Wethersfield, CT) for their help in making this!

New Jersey man rediscovers his grandfather’s home movies of the 1934 fire aboard the SS Morro Castle.

What he found, local historians say, is one of the longest known pieces of footage capturing the aftermath of the maritime disaster, among the worst in U.S. history.

“It was immediately obvious what I was looking at,” said Alsberg, 43, recounting the day three years ago he used a newly purchased projector from a surplus store to watch the 10-minute segment. “It was a jaw-dropping moment knowing I had this quasi-historical film.”

Source: NJ.com

Get this one-of-a-kind recycled Super 8 clock on Etsy.

BoingBoing posted this video today showing a 1956 Disneyland. Jeff Altman’s grandfather shot the 16mm Kodachrome film one year after the park opened. The Deerhoof soundtrack is sweet.

More of Altman’s home movies can be seen on his Vimeo page here.

Japan’s Film Preservation Society member Mariko Goda made this excellent video PSA for Home Movie Day 2009 in Japan. Film clips are from Home Movie Day events in 2007 and 2008. Enjoy!