NCFF & The Onyx Downtown Present Home Movie Day & Silent Movie Day – September 28 & 29

Ransack your parent’s house, scour your attic, go treasure hunting at the local thrift store – we’re looking for cinema gold for Home Movie Day!  

In celebration of Home Movie Day, The Onyx Downtown, the Nevada City Film Festival, and a group of professional film archivists will host a free event on Saturday, September 28 at the historic Nevada Theatre. Activities begin at 12pm with a workshop on the preservation and care of classic film formats including 8mm and 16mm, following the workshop attendees will get the opportunity to volunteer with inspections and projection, and at 4pm the community is invited to attend a screening of the films submitted by the community. In the evening a special program featuring home movies and experimental films from the California archives will be screened. All for free.

Home Movie Day – Schedule

• 12pm-2pm: Workshop on the inspection, projection and care of film
• 2pm-4pm: Film drop off, inspections, and prep for screening
• 4pm-6pm: Free open screening 7pm-8:30pm: Special program featuring home movies and experimental films

Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at many local venues worldwide. Home Movie Day events 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’ films in turn. It’s a chance to discover WHY to care about these films and to learn HOW best to care for them.

“The last time we held this event was in 2022 and were amazed by the quality of films the community brought to the theater,” said Jesse Locks, executive director Nevada City Film Festival. “There were old movies of Brunswick Basin when it was Lake Olympia, downtown Nevada City and Grass Valley during parades in the 50s and 60s, the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles in the 60s, exotic vacations to India and Europe in the 40s and 50s, and much more. It was such a special moment to see and hear the stories behind the images of these profound moments in our history.”

One of the event’s organizers is Pamela Vadakan, an archivist, home movie enthusiast, and director for California Revealed, a State Library initiative that digitizes and preserves California histories. She has also worked at the Pacific Film Archive, where she organized her first Home Movie Day in 2007.

Wonder what a film archivist is? They are the librarians of the cinematic world.

“Hold on to your original reels and tapes! Film and magnetic media are fragile formats, but can last forever if you care for them,” says Vadakan. “Home Movie Day is an opportunity to share your home movie memories, and learn how to digitize and preserve them for generations to come. We welcome and treasure your stories!”

Folks interested in having their movies screened can drop off their Super 8mm, Regular 8mm, 16mm, DVDs, or digital files in advance to The Onyx Theatre, 107 Argall Way, Nevada City during business hours, before Monday, September 23^rd.

For community members outside of the county, home movies can be submitted digitally at www.nevadacityfilmfestival.com/homemovies. Please remember to complete this submission form.

If you miss the early drop off window, feel free to bring your films by the Nevada Theatre on Home Movie Day from 2pm-4pm so they can be inspected and prepped in advance for the open screening. We will return all films at the end of the screening.

Individuals interested in volunteering and learning about home movie preservation and small-gauge film handling, should email jesse@nevadacityfilmfestival.com.

Silent Movie Day Special Free Double Feature to Honor the Great Buster Keaton

Sherlock Jr. followed by director Peter Bogdonovich’s documentary The Great Buster: A Celebration

Sunday, September 29, 2pm 

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Sherlock Jr. (1924, 45min, G) showcases Buster Keaton’s brilliance. 

Anticipating Jean-Luc Godard and postmodernism by decades, the detective fantasy Sherlock Jr. largely takes place inside the head of a hapless and wronged cinema projectionist (Keaton). Using his amateur detective skills, the projectionist follows the thief to the train station — only to find himself locked in a train car. Disheartened, he returns to his movie theater, where he falls asleep and dreams that he is the great Sherlock Holmes.

Keaton’s third feature is a breathtakingly virtuosic display of every silent comedy technique imaginable, from his own formidable physical skills to some then-groundbreaking camera trickery. While there is endless debate as to which is the funniest of Buster Keaton’s 1920s features, there’s little doubt as to which is the cleverest.

Following the film is director Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018, 1h 42m, NR, Documentary/Comedy). For fans of Buster Keaton or those who are just discovering the comedian, The Great Buster is an essential film in understanding on of America’s most influential filmmakers and his legacy as a truce cinematic visionary. The film features interviews with many industry figures such as Dick Van Dyke, Richard Lewis, Bill Hader, Cybill Shephard, Werner Herzog, Nick Kroll, Quentin Tarantino, among many others, and is packed with incredible archival footage that delves deep into Keaton’s genius.