Some of the records in our database link to videos that you can watch. Click on the films below.
"2 part edited footage of a road trip along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the border of Mexico. Includes much natural scenery, often from a moving car, but also documents visits to the Tabasco factory and two ranches. A woman also evokes the Longfellow poem, Evangeline, by taking a wistful walk." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"2 part edited footage of a road trip along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the border of Mexico. Includes much natural scenery, often from a moving car, but also documents visits to the Tabasco factory and two ranches. A woman also evokes the Longfellow poem, Evangeline, by taking a wistful walk." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
Watch: via Archive.org
"During five summers from 1957 to 1961, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, set out to visit all 48 of the then United States of America on a series of month-long camping trips. Part I includes seeing famous sites from "America's History" in 24 Eastern, Northern, and Southern states." Archive.org
Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)
"During five summers from 1957 to 1961, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, set out to visit all 48 of the then United States of America on a series of month-long camping trips. Part II showcases "America's Wonderlands" with 18 National Parks and other exciting attractions in the great Northwest and Southwest." Archive.org
Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)
"Amateur drama of a girl's dreams inspired by a Mother Goose book." Center for Home Movies.
Watch: via Archive.org
"Animated film made by four boys from St. Thomas of Canterbury grade school. "February 31st" is a colorful animation of fruit that comes to life as the sun rises on that mythical date." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"Una historia sobre el acoso sufrido por la juventud por parte del mundo de los adultos. La posición alternativa del grupo [de realizadores] se hacía explícita desde las primeras tomas, en donde los créditos aparecían escritos en las paredes de una casa en ruinas, omitiendo los apellidos y dejando solo los nombres de pila de quienes participaron" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"A story about the harassment suffered by the youth from the adult world. The alternative position of the group [of filmmakers] was made evident from the first shots, where credits appeared written on the walls of a house in ruins, omitting last names and leaving only the first names of the participants" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
Watch: Via Sergio García Michel's Youtube channel.
"Members of the BC Mountaineering Club fly from Jericho Beach, Vancouver, in a Sikorsky S-38 amphibian (Canadian Airways, registration CF-ASO), and land on Garibaldi Lake. Most of the footage depicts the members climbing Mount Garibaldi and resting at the summit. Returning to the lake, they board the amphibian and fly back to Jericho Beach" British Columbia Archives.
Watch: Excerpt via Royal B.C. Museum, YouTube
Watch: via Archive.org
"A bridge party invite a mysterious stranger to make up a fourth at their table, only to be unpleasantly surprised by his card tricks. When their fourth player arrives late, the strange interloper disappears, leaving an oddly familiar Joker in his place" National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.
Watch: Via National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive
"Fowl is Fare is a documentary showing how Long Island ducks are prepared for market. Unusual angles and tight editing keep the film moving" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.
Watch: Fowl is Fare featured in Image Union Episode 0032 (1:09-8:00)
"A South Shore High School student film that is an allegory on the wastefulness of war and the duplicity of those who wage it. Filmmaker Wayne Williams, who was 17 at the time, cuts back and forth between a chess game and a guerrilla theater war game to underscore the sense of importance of the fighters and the cynicism of those who control their lives - and deaths." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"A group of children learn in school that tomorrow will be “Woman’s Day”, the equivalent of our “Mother’s Day”, then the humorous story unfolds in a delightful and charming manner of how two small boys decide to celebrate this occasion. An amateur film made by a Russian filmmaker and distributed by the Society of Amateur Cinematographers (SAC). All title cards are in Russian." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
The G.R.A.M.C. holds an open house on November 1, 1961. This film documents the event, showing amateur filmmakers dining, conversing with one another, and examining cameras.
Watch: via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library
"A short amateur narrative, featuring locals in cameo roles, about a husband who tries to teach his wife a lesson by staging a fake robbery." filmpreservation.org
Watch: via YouTube
"Short film of an airshow featuring vintage Hawk, Cobra and Lightening aircraft ." Chicago Film Archives
Watch: chicagofilmarchives.org
"Local sights and events in the White Rock area, such as parades, celebrations at the International Peace Arch, fashion show, recreational activities, etc." British Columbia Archives.
Watch: Via White Rock Museum, YouTube
"A humorous film about group exercises and volleyball at the Turnverein gymnasium, Portland, Oregon. Produced by "Miller Picture Corruption Ink" under the auspices of the Amateur Cinema League, probably as a Christmas present for Miller's friends. Appearing: Members of the Portland Turnverein." Oregon Historical Society.
Watch: via Oregon Historical Society (YouTube)
Documental sobre la política y ciudadanía euskalduna durante los años 70. El autor hace un recorrido por diferentes acontecimientos inscritos en los procesos de lucha y represión que tuvieron lugar durante el franquismo y primeros años de democracia.
Documentary about the Basque politics and citizens during the 70's. The filmmaker goes through different events inscribed in the struggle processes and the repression that took place during Franco's dictatorship and the first years of democracy.
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
"A parody of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," produced and directed by James Blue while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Oregon." Knight Library.
Watch: via the Knight Library (YouTube)
"A short travelogue film of Havana, Cuba shot for the Metro Movie Club, a Chicago amateur film club." Chicago Film Archives.
Watch: via Chicago Film Archives
"2 part travelogue film of Hawaii capturing the scenery, resources and people of the islands. Part 1 visits to a lava flow and other natural wonders such as Haleakala Creater and a black sand beach as well as numerous shores and valleys along the way. Stop motion animation of a toy car or ship tracks a change in location. Part 2 features footage of tropical flowers, picking coconuts, family picnic, farming and factory processing pineapple, Hula dance performances, surfing and canoeing competitions, and sunsets."
Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives
Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives
"2 part edited travel footage taken in numerous Hawaiian locations. Focuses on events and people as well as the natural scenery. Includes traditional dancing, a festival and a visit to an aquarium as well as religious locations." Chicago Film Archives.
Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives
Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives
"A colonial scene in the U.S. An old lady sits astride a bell while a man in blackface, wig, and livery pulls the bell rope. From an upper door emerges an old man, dressed as a dandy, who tips his hat to the woman as he walks down stairs grinning. Others leave the same door and walk down the same stairs: a shabby man, a cop, and, several times, the same dandy. The man in blackface hangs himself; the dandy continues to smile. A bell tolls, a grave beckons. In the dark, the dandy plays the piano. Is he Death?" IMDb.
Orson Welles' filmmaking debut, which was co-directed by William Vance. An amateur production, Welles later described the film as a parody of surrealist cinema and the films of Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel.
Watch: via Archive.org
"A blonde model and the sights of New York divide the honors in Othon Goetz's Her Heart's Desire, a pleasant story of the girl who came to the Big City to model and got married instead. Good city footage is quite rare; Mr. Goetz has succeeded in achieving some startling shots of New York's splendors as he follows the thin thread of his story. It is difficult to believe that this blonde would not have found a job — but she lends glamour to a film that otherwise might show considerable weakness." Movie Makers, Dec. 1949, 470.
Watch: Her Heart's Desire via Chicago Film Archives
"Herbie is an abstract pattern mostly of automobile headlights enough out of focus to cause the viewer to wonder what they are. The judges felt the maker of this film should be commended for synchronizing his sound track to the abstract movements, of the patterns made by the lights" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.
Watch: YouTube upload of Herbie
"A narrated travelogue addressed to viewers in the U.S. shows life in several small towns surrounding Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Shows rope making from sisal hemp and traditional textile weaving. Concludes with a visits to the outdoor markets in Santiago Atitlan and Chichicastenango" Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive.
Watch: via Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Documental sobre la metamorfosis del gusano de seda desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte, pasando por todos los procesos morfológicos.
A documentary about the silk worm metamorphosis, from its birth to its death, showing al morphologic processes.
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
A woman grows frustrated with her husband's commitment to his various hobbies, which seem to take precedence over their marriage.
Watch: via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library
Total Pages: 10
Amateur Cinema