Some of the records in our database link to videos that you can watch. Click on the films below.
"An amateur film made by and starring the husband and wife duo, John & Evelyn Kibar. The film follows John, a cake decorator, as he struggles to keep up with the bakery’s cake orders. Title cards with dialogue are dispersed throughout the film." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
Comedy about a psychiatric hospital patient who attempts an escape. Two inept hospital employees fail to retrieve the patient, allowing him to encounter a child whose scooter offers a chance at a faster getaway.
Watch: Version 1 via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library
Watch: Version 2 via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library
"Three men encourage people to follow rules set by the air raid warden in the event of an air raid. The rules are put to song, and some rules are depicted by actors." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"An amateur film made by and starring the husband and wife duo, John & Evelyn Kibar. The couple visit an art gallery, where John proclaims he can make art just the same. Title cards with dialogue are dispersed throughout the film." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"A two part travelogue featuring travel and industry highlights on the shores of Lake Michigan. Part one includes scenes of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin while part two includes travel highlights of Indiana and Michigan." Chicago Film Archives.
Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives
Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives
"Footage along the American River that was used to save the American River Parkway." Sacramento Public Library.
Watch: via Save the American River Association (YouTube)
"Hansen travels to Hong Kong following his original visit to China in 1937. Initially, he spends much of his time roaming the commercial districts, giving a sense of tourism side of Hong Kong. Immediately following, he spends several minutes focusing on the skyline and captures footage of locations on the outskirts of the city. Hansen then spends the rest of the evening eating at a local cuisine and attending a show. For the remainder of his trip, Hansen shifts his attention from Hong Kong's tourist areas to the residential districts, fishing docks, and rural farming." UC San Diego Library.
Watch: via UC San Diego Library
""Our Day" is a smart, entertaining day-in-the-life portrait of the Kelly household, shown in both idealized and comic ways. This silent 16mm home movie uses creative editing, lighting and camera techniques comparable to what professionals were doing in Hollywood. His amateur cast was made up of his mother, wife, brother and pet terrier. "Our Day" also contains exceptional images of small-town Southern life, ones that counter the stereotype of impoverished people eking out a living during the Depression. The 12-minute film documents a modern home inhabited by adults with sophisticated interests (the piano, literature, croquet) and simple ones (gardening, knitting, home cooking). Kelly, a newspaperman, was also an accomplished photographer, painter, and writer. He began shooting film in 1929 and continued until the 1950s." Library of Congress (U.S.)
Watch: via archive.org
"Good teaching films are not easy to produce, and welding activities are not easy to film. In making this picture, Ray Garner and the Harmon Foundation have solved both problems in a highly satisfactory manner. The procedures are clearly and simply outlined in titles which are combined with unusually fine camera work, to produce a well integrated whole. Done almost entirely in closeups, the actual welding scenes show perfect exposure and, in many instances, very interesting angles. The film was made at Hampton Institute, in Virginia, and a student demonstrates the proper techniques in procedure. The title art work was especially good in this film, and the entire production showed the effects of a well organized plan and a careful procedure." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 509.
Watch: via National Archives
Documental sobre el ciclo de vida de la mariposa Papilo Machaón, desde su fase inicial como larva hasta su forma final como mariposa. “En el atardecer, descansan las mariposas esperando al nuevo día para continuar su misión, libando y fecundando flores, manteniendo así el equilibrio ecológico del fascinante mundo de la naturaleza”. (Papilio 1980)
Documentary about the life cycle of the Papilo Machaón, from its initial stage as a larva until its final form as a butterfly. "At sunset, the butterflies rest awaiting the new day to continue their mission, absorbing polen and pollinating flowers, maintaining the fascinating ecological equilibrium of the natural world. (Papilio 1980)
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
"This experimental film by Kenneth Anthony (credited as Ken Anthony) is a twist on the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The main character, a young man, has a portrait of himself in a contemporary style. Over the course of the film, images of traditional paintings begin appearing on his body, much to his concern. After he leaves, his female companion is chased by the portrait. As more images appear on his body, the young man decides to destroy the portrait. He fails, however, and turns into a work of contemporary art himself. He is sent to a gallery by the women in the film, all of whom fall in love with the portrait. The final shot indicates that the portrait may come to life" Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
Watch: via Texas Archive of the Moving Image
"En Patria Libre, Sergio García documentó los primeros logros de la revolución sandinista en Nicaragua. [...] Se trataba de un documental convencional, con una voz off (leída por Felio Eliel) sobre un momento de frescura y esperanza por el triunfo del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional. El arranque del documental con una serie de imágenes de Sandino en alto contraste que culminan en la foto de un adolescente guerrillero (mientras que en la banda sonora se escucha a Pablo Milanés cantar "Los caminos") preludian el tono que se desarrollará sobre el caso de la revolución sandinista" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012.)
"In Patria Libre [Free Country], Sergio García documented the first achievements of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. It was a conventional documentary, with an off voice (read by Felio Eliel) about a moment of freshness and hope because of the triumph of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. The documentary begins with a series of highly contrasted images of Sandino that end with the picture of a guerrilla teenager (while the soundtrack plays "Los caminos" [The roads] by Pablo Milanés), which is a prelude to the tone that will be used to describe the Sandinista Revolution" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
Watch: Via Sergio García's Youtube channel.
"The life cycle of the peach -- from peach blossom to peach pie" (Holmes, 2018).
Watch: Via University of Georgia Media Catalogue
"Story of murder during a treasure hunt." Movie Makers, Nov. 1933, 475.
Watch: via Archive.org
"We open with a little boy standing on a box in a telephone booth; his little friend is too busy or not of a receptive mood for the boy friend. Hurt as he is, he goes into the park and laments his failure to lure the young lady. He is about to resolve a life without women when a young (very young) girl comes into his perspective. His agile mind responds and he sets about to make an impression using many approaches of demure and sophisticated charm. His success was not exactly complete. Finally she visits the "girls" room. Her long delay is too much for the young man, so he makes another telephone call and hurriedly leaves the scene. The commentary is enhanced by the sophisticated French voice. This will be included in the Package" PSA Journal, Oct. 1962, 34.
Watch: Pierre and Candy on archive.org
"Dancers move in front of a background made up of crystal formations filmed through a microscope. One of Norman McLaren’s first experimental films." Library and Archives Canada.
Watch: Polychrome Fantasy on YouTube
"The mind and heart of Lydia are portrayed symbolically in smooth-flowing, single-framed drawings in this psychological study of a woman. A different film for the devotee of the experimental approach to motion pictures" PSA Journal, Oct. 1963, 42.
Watch: via YouTube
"The story of a three-day whale watching trip in July 1991 from Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA, 100 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean to Georges Bank, to find and film sperm whales and six other species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), including the never-before-filmed North Atlantic Beaked Whale. Filmed and narrated by Dr. Robbins Barstow of Wethersfield, Connecticut, USA." Archive.org
Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)
Documental sobre un mercado en Barcelos, un pueblo del norte de Portugal, que se celebra todos los jueves del año. En él, se pueden encontrar hasta las cosas más inverosímiles.
Documentary about a market in Barcelos, a northern town in Portugal, that happens every Thursday of the year. In the market, even the most improbable things can be found.
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
"RATAMATA is a portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans (ranging from high school students to habitual mayoral candidate Lars Daly) as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"An amateur film about a raccoon." Center for Home Movies.
Watch: via Archive.org
"Reportaje Grafico Nacional: Alvaro Chavarria Nunez, who aspires to producing newsreels in his native Costa Rica, presents in this entry a typical effort. The picture is a newsreel of several national events held in this country, and while it displays aggresive camera work, the film result, a dupe print, suffers a great deal because of inferior laboratory work, and therefore the true quality of the photography could not be properly evaluated. Nunez recorded the sound track, using his Auricon film recorder." American Cinematographer, May. 1951, 192.
Watch: Reportaje Grafico Nacional on Vimeo via Centro de Cine
Documental sobre la Semana Santa en una ciudad de Castilla, donde la paz contrasta con la violencia de otras partes del mundo.
Documentary about the Holy Week in a city of Castilla, where peace contrasts with the violence lived in other parts of the world.
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
"This film takes the viewer through the formation and life of a river. From raindrops to rapids, this film shows freshwater and how it moves through our environment," via SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Watch: River: an Allegory via SUNY ESF
“İlk film çalışmalarını Paris’te gerçekleştiren Heper, Galatasaray Lisesi’nden mezun olduktan sonra önce hukuk okumak için Cenevre’ye gider lakin mutlu olamaz ve okulu bırakarak Fransa’ya geçip, Paris Yüksek Sinema Enstitüsü’de (Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques – IDHEC) sinema eğitimi almaya başlar. Bu okuldan ‘En İyi Yönetmen’ ünvanı ile mezun olan yönetmen, bu dönem (1963 yılında) gerçekleştirdiği iki kısa filminden ilki olan ‘Bir Kadın’ ile IDHEC, ikinci kısa filmi Şafak ile de hem IDHEC hem de Avusturya Kültür Bakanlığı En İyi Film ödülünü almıştır.” Burak Çevik, Sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/alp-zeki-heper-ve-iki-kisa-filmi-bir-kadin-safak/ (15 November 2019).
“Graduated from Galatasaray Highschool, Heper first went to Geneva to study law. Because he was unhappy in Geneva, he left the law school and went to Paris to study filmmaking at Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques (IDHEC). He graduated from IDHEC with the award, “the best director.” The two student short films, Bir Kadın and Şafak, made by Heper when he was at IDHEC, received the best film awards from both IDHEC and the Austrian Ministry of Culture. Burak Çevik, Sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/alp-zeki-heper-ve-iki-kisa-filmi-bir-kadin-safak/ (15 November 2019).
Watch: Via YouTube
San Francisco "...is a 16mm Filmorama travelogue of San Francisco in 1955 that employs a conventional structure and makes emphatic use of the widescreen equipment. The film’s use of traveling car shots, or updated phantom rides, heightens our sense of being in motion, much like early Cinerama films. This is no rough home movie; it is a very polished travelogue and was shown before an audience of five hundred amateurs at a Bay Area amateur screening the year it was produced" Tepperman, 125.
Watch: via Archive.org
"A tour of the California theme park." Center for Home Movies.
Watch: via Archive.org
"In the summer of [1982], Robbins Barstow and his wife Meg, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, USA, went on a two-week tour of scenic Sweden and spectacular Norway. Join them in viewing beautiful sights and fascinating sites, all in dramatic color." Archive.org
Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)
"Materials of Ron Boise's art are found in the wrecking yard. Welding, burning, beating on the discarded metal, the artist works from a life model. He seeks not so much to represent the human form as to express it through his "junk" medium. Music is provided by Dr. Fred Katz, Professor of Anthropology at CSUF." Via WorldCat
Watch: Excerpt of the Sculpture of Ron Boise from Leland Auslender
"This rare footage of Seattle and environs in the 1930s was shot by amateur filmmaker Iwao Matsushita. See downtown streets and sidewalks, Lincoln Park, Seward Park, Volunteer Park, a UW football game, rambunctious kitties and other surprises from more than 60 years ago." Seattle Channel.
Watch: via Seattle Channel
Total Pages: 11
Amateur Cinema