The hidden Letelier Theater on Prospect Street will host the annual Home Movie Day on Saturday Oct. 15, 2011 from 12 to 4 p.m. to promote the craft and preservation of home movie making.
This event part of a larger worldwide day hosted by The Center for Home Movies in order to “provide the opportunity for individuals and families to see and share their own home movies with an audience of their community, and to see their neighbors’ in turn” according the website.
Caitlyn McGrath, a film historian, moved to D.C. and was surprised to see that Home Movie Day was not celebrated. She began calling different theaters and finally found Letelier Theater which was happy to host the event. The goal is to allow people to see their home video without buying a projector, she said. She expects event goers will “run the gamut.” The event is “flexible and open,” she said. One can “stay for a half an hour and leave.”
Neighbors will have the opportunity to not only show their home videos (8mm, Super8mm or 16mm films) but also learn how to preserve their film. There will be “silly” games like bingo to keep the visitors entertained.
The romanticism of 20th century home movies is what inspired this event. The Center for Home Movies dismisses any claims of “the mistaken idea that their new digital copies would last forever and the “obsolete” films could be discarded” the website said, “the original films are often carefully shot in beautiful, vibrant color—which may not be captured in a lower-resolution video transfer.”
