Friday, August 10-------For the fifth year, Anthology Film Archives invites amateurs and professionals alike to share their 8-millimeter, Super 8 or 16-millimeter home movies for its annual Home Movie Day. Decaying images from family vacations, bar mitzvah celebrations, long forgotten family members and other ephemera are the order of the day, with the prevailing ethos that one man's trash is another man's treasure. The only rule is that the home movies must be that, movies, not video.
The New York event, happening tomorrow at the East Village arthouse, is just one part of a global celebration of amateur filmmaking, which is taking place on the same day in other cities. The films will be screened on a first-come-first-served basis, and should provide a mix of campy fun and heart-tugging nostalgia. Anthology Film Archives will also screen the film URBAN PEASANTS, a 1975 assemblage of found home movie footage by Ken Jacobs, one of the first avant-garde filmmakers to tap this rich source of original imagery.
So, dig out those reels in your basement or the garage, and become an instant auteur of days long gone. For more information on other Home Movie Day celebrations, visit their website: www.homemovieday.com.
Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor