A report from Toronto:
Toronto – Home Movie Day presented by Homemade Movies
Homemade Movies held our Home Movie Day event in a beautiful neo-gothic hall
at Hart House in the University of Toronto. Everyone was invited to bring down home movies to the event. (Photos).We had films from the 1920’s through to super 8s from the 80’s – representing the wide multicultural mix of Toronto. One collection captured family life in the city’s West Indian community and trips back home to rural Guyana. Another film was a sound super 8 brought to Toronto at some point from Germany where it was shot in the mid ’70s. It was of a party at an apartment decked-out in period furnishings that ended with a full-out dance segment. A mother and daughter came with reels shot in Quebec of the daughter as a baby which neither had seen in 30 years.
The event was organized much like Homemade Movies’ ongoing series of b.y.o.h.m. events (bring your own home movies) that we have been hosting for over 8 years. Our Home Movie Day had both a repair clinic – where people were able to look through their collections, get help repairing films and select a reel to show – and a screening.
This is the 2nd year our event was co-presented by the Hart House Film Board and held in one of the halls at Hart House. Homemade Movies has organized an event on Home Movie Day in most of the past 5 years, including holding the first Home Movie Day screening in Toronto in ‘03. This year Siue Moffat and Jonathan Culp did a great job helping us get the word out about the event and on the 11th itself. Thanks again to them and the Hart House Film Board – and to Images, Pleasure Dome & Laura Cowell.