Athens, Ga. – National Home Movie Day 2007 is coming to Athens on Saturday, Aug. 11, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Public Library on Baxter Street. The event is sponsored by the University of Georgia Main Libraries Media Archives and is free and open to the public.
National Home Movie Day is a worldwide celebration of amateur films and filmmaking and is held annually on the second Saturday in August. Home Movie Day events provide an opportunity for individuals and families to learn more about their own family movies, how to care for films and how home movies have helped capture 20th century history.
There will be a screening of home movies from the archive’s collection, which includes footage from around the state as well as other locales. There also will be a brief talk about the best ways to preserve unique home-grown films and videotapes. Attendees are encouraged to bring films with them for brief inspection and advice from the archivists that will be attendance.
“If you have home movies on film or videotape that you are worried about preserving, bring them to Home Movie Day,” said Ruta Abolins, director of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection. “We will be screening 16mm, regular 8mm, and Super 8mm home movies from our collection of over 300 reels of film. Too many people see their home movies as just documenting their family; they don’t realize that home movies provide insight into family custom, lifestyle, landscape and history.”
A case in point is the recent find of the Kaliska-Greenblatt Home Movie Collection. Discovered at an Atlanta flea market, 27 reels were donated to UGA’s Media Archives. Documented on the film reels are places and events of Georgia’s history. These events include the July 1930 ticker tape parade down Peachtree Street for Bobby Jones’s Grand Slam and carving work on Stone Mountain. The footage also contained the earliest-known scenes of UGA and alumni, circa 1931. Featured is Harold Hirsch, Class of 1901, well known for his defense of the Coca-Cola trademark, and of Harold Hirsch Hall on UGA’s North Campus, circa 1932. Much of this footage will be screened during the event.
For more information about Home Movie Day in Athens, contact Ruta Abolins at 706/542-4757. For more information about National Home Movie Day, see www.homemovieday.com.
