Blown-up from the original reels to 35mm, Amateur Night is a feature-length big screen journey into the eclectic past of small-gauge filmmaking. The films chosen highlight some of the preservation efforts that have been undertaken by America’s film archives. The past decade, in particular, has seen a flourishing of collecting, studying and viewing of home movies, particularly by archives that focus on regional media collections. Scholars and filmmakers, in particular, have increasingly gone into the archives to view home movies and amateur films, as a way of understanding American culture and filmmaking in new ways.
Credits
© 2010 The Center for Home Movies
Produced and Directed by Dwight Swanson
Production Coordinator ~ Diana Little, Cineric, Inc.
Funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation, the Louis B. Mayer Foundation, and the Haghefilm Foundation
Film stock courtesy of Kodak
Special Thanks to Cineric, Inc.
Full credits at centerforhomemovies.org/amateurnight/credits
The Films:
Title Sequence designed by Kerry Laitala
Opening and closing music by Lylas
Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers
Dr. Frank S. Zach
Courtesy of the San Francisco Media Archive
sfm.org
Two-In-One
David H. Jarret
Courtesy of the Orgone Archive
Alfred Hitchcock Home Movies
Alfred Hitchcock
Courtesy of the Alfred Hitchcock Estate and the Academy Film Archive
oscars.org/film-archive
Commentary by Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell
Baby Squirrel and Chicago Bus Ride
Stuart Dimond
Courtesy of the Walker Art Center
walkerart.org
Music by 4 Five VI
Last Great Gathering of the Sioux Nation
Arthur P. Howe
Courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society
nebraskahistory.org
“Omaha Song” from the album Songs of the Sioux courtesy Canyon Records, all rights reserved.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center
Naokichi Hashizume
Courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum
janm.org
Commentary by Kimie Hashizume Ouchi
Naushon Sheep Drive
Alexander Forbes
Courtesy of Northeast Historic Film
oldfilm.org
Music by 4 Five VI
The Coker Avenue Gang
C.C. Minnich
Courtesy of the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound
knoxlib.org/local-family-history/tennessee-archive-moving-image-and-sound
Music by 4 Five VI
Innsbruck
Morris Margolin
Morris and Dorothy Margolin Collection
Courtesy of the Archive of Documentary Arts, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book, Manuscript Library, Duke University
llibrary.duke.edu/rubenstein/documentaryarts
A Day on Featherlane Farm/Meet the Neighbors
Mortimer Goldman
Courtesy of the National Center for Jewish Film
jewishfilm.org
Music by 4 Five VI
Atom Bomb
Louis C. Harris
Courtesy of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia Libraries
libs.uga.edu/media
Commentary by Hap Harris
Fairy Princess
Margaret Conneely
Courtesy of the Chicago Film Archives
chicagofilmarchives.org
Smokey Bear
Homer C. Pickens
Courtesy of the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives
nmcpr.state.nm.us
Commentary by Jimmy Pickens
Nixon Visits Idaho Falls
Super 8 Motion Picture Film Collection Roll # S-32
Nixon White House Staff
Courtesy of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
nixonlibrary.gov
Lower 9th Ward
Helen Hill
Courtesy of the Harvard Film Archive and Paul Gailiunas
hcl.harvard.edu/hfa
Commentary by Paul Gailiunas
Our Day
Wallace Kelly
Courtesy of the Center for Home Movies and Martha Kelly
centerforhomemovies.org
Music written, performed and recorded by Rachel Grimes
Music mixed at the Funeral Home with Kevin Ratterman, Louisville KY, © 2010 BMI
More information can be found at amateurnightmovie.com
Contact swanson@centerforhomemovies.org about 35mm screenings