Some of the records in our database link to videos that you can watch. Click on the films below.
"General scenes around Acapulco; Bay, ships, beach, poolside, city scenes, landscape, cliff diving, traditional dance and crafts." UC San Diego Library.
Watch: via UC San Diego Library
"2 part edited travelogue film of the people and customs encountered in towns along the Amazon River in South America. Part one includes landscapes, a variety of housing from towns to shacks along the river, people selling goods, trapping and selling exotic animals, herding cattle, boating, and a religious ceremony." Chicago Film Archives.
Watch: Part 1 via Chicago Film Archives
Watch: Part 2 via Chicago Film Archives
Película argumental que cuenta la historia de la viuda de un minero, basada en un hecho real. Una mujer, evoca su pasado junto a su marido que se ve obligado a trabajar en la mina para sobrevivir.
Fiction film that tells the story of a miner's widow, based on true facts. a woman, evoques her past with her husband who was forced to work in a mine in order to survive.
Watch: Via Miguel Ángel Quintana's Vimeo Channel
"The Mirror: This picture was described in considerable detail, as was the steps involved in its making, in our March issue. (See pg. 102.) Arthur H. Smith and Wolfgang Schubert photographed this mystery drama which is comparable in scope, if not quality, to the average feature film production. Unfortunately, inconsistent exposure and cast limitations detracted substantially from the otherwise overall good quality of the picture, but left with sufficient points to rate it an Honorable Mention award." American Cinematographer, May. 1951, 192.
Watch: The Mirror via Archive.org
"Footage of various California missions [...] from the late 1930s." Archive.org
Watch: via California Light and Sound (Archive.org), 0:00-6:10
Two men perform a song titled "Modern Design" and encourage the film's viewer to participate in the performance.
Watch: via Chicago Film Archives
"This all-too-brief film, discovered at a flea market, depicts patrons of a lesbian bar (probably in San Francisco circa 1950) and performances by drag king Jimmy Reynard and singer Jan Jensen, singing American standards, including “I’ll Remember April” and “Tenderly.” A deceptively simple document, it presents exceedingly rare images of queer life on its own turf, and on its own terms, before gay liberation." UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Watch: via A/V Geeks (Archive.org)
"Money to Burn, believe it or not, comes from Scotland, where, if you can believe it, they burn money. But not until it is worn out and counted by a series of bank tellers. Then it goes up in smoke in this well-put together documentary" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.
Watch: Video via the National Library of Scotland
"Multiple Sidosis by Sidney N. Laverentz a PSA member of National City, California. Sid's title is a mind-boggler surpassed only by the unbelievable single frame multi-image exposures, all in synchronization, that is reminiscent of his winner of a few years ago, "One Man Band." This 10-minute 16mm film won for him a Ten Best medal and the Golden Microphone Award, the new title for the past Sound Award" PSA Journal, Nov. 1970, 38.
Watch: Multiple Sidosis on YouTube
"Mungo Martin demonstrates the making of a Bee Mask. Tony Hunt models the mask and provides a short rendition of the Bee Mask Dance" (Duffy, 140).
This film is also known as Mungo Martin Makes a Mask.
Watch: Via Royal B.C. Museum
"The filming of "Nanook" was almost an accident. It was not until his third exploration trip into the North in 1913 that Mr. Flaherty packed in his kit the necessary apparatus for making a motion picture of the life of the Eskimo. For a year and a half he lived among them as an engineer and explorer and his admiration for their life, their games, and their struggles, grew on him slowly. He was immersed in enthusiasm. He knew they made fine film stuff. Then, after months of hard work, his precious film was drowned while crossing a rotten ice stream within twelve miles of the journey's end. Undaunted, he made new plans immediately for retaking the picture. His next trip to the North, made especially to take the film, was completely successful. He did away with episodic filming; he built his first camera entity," Amateur Movie Makers, May 1927, 7.
Watch: Available on YouTube via All Classic Video
"Record of a film society screening at the Stanley Theatre on Granville Street, Vancouver. Includes shots of the "concert" program; scenes outside the theatre before and after the show and at intermission; audience in the lobby; movie scenes shot off the screen from the auditorium; unidentified man introducing films. Oscar Burritt and other film society members are glimpsed briefly. " (BC Archives)
Watch: National Film Society of Canada (Vancouver Branch), Fourth Season 1940, Ninth Performance...
“Sinematek.TV film arkeolojisine devam ediyor! 1979 yılında Stockholm’da düzenlenen Nazım Hikmet’i Anma Gecesi’ndeki Ruhi Su, Zülfü Livaneli, Tuncel Kurtiz’in performansları Muammer Özer tarafından kaydedilmiş ve İlk defa Sinematek.tv tarafından yayınlanıyor.” Sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/nazim-hikmet-anmasi-stockholm-1979/ (15 November 2019).
“Sinematek TV continues its film archeology! Muammer Özer’s film of a commemoration night for Nazım Hikmet displays Ruhi Su, Zülfü Livnaeli, and Tuncel Kurtiz and Sinematek.tv screens it for the first time.” Sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/nazim-hikmet-anmasi-stockholm-1979/ (15 November 2019).
Watch: http://sinematek.tv/nazim-hikmet-anmasi-stockholm-1979/
"Most of the residents of New York City know that the world's metropolis is something more than a play place for sensation hunters. But, if one were to judge from many films of New York City, the conclusion would be inevitable that the urban settlement at the mouth of the Hudson River is chiefly devoted to night clubs and parades and is populated largely by those who frequent them. In New York Calling, made for the New York Central System, of which he is supervisor of the Motion Picture Bureau, Frederick G. Beach has presented the New York Central's eastern terminal city as a reasonable and understandable place, where sane people live and to which a man may bring or send his family for a holiday without wondering if they will survive the experience. Made for showing to families, Mr. Beach's excellent Kodachrome footage covers the best of New York City with an apparently effortless leisure, in spite of its brevity. Including many different phases of a great city, the picture has a generous amount of well made closeups. Things that will interest children are strikingly presented. If this reviewer did not already live in New York City, Mr. Beach's movie, with excellent narrative and music, would be the best possible argument for him to change his residence. It certainly will prove to be persuasive in the days when railroads can again urge us to travel for pleasure." Movie Makers, Dec. 1942, 508-509.
Watch: via NFPF
"Nightsong is a dramatic story of a colored night club singer, Willie Wright, trying to make the big time and, most of all "to get people to like me." One evening while singing, his eyes rest on the face of a beautiful young white girl and his infatuation with her becomes unmistakable as the story unfolds. The film is 99% visual with a sound track that places great emphasis on the various moods of the young singer" PSA Journal, Sept. 1965, 50.
Watch: Via Chicago Film Archives
A family permits a lone hunter to stay in their cabin for the night. The hunter entertains the children with magic tricks. Later, the hunter's addition to the cabin sparks a debate over who will sleep in the cabin's beds.
Watch: via the G.R.A.M.C. Film Library
"Sailing around Alaska." UC San Diego Library.
Watch: via UC San Diego Library
"Amateur film in one continuous shot parodying a talk show, where the guests promoting an Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (IAC) gathering in the next year get carried away with their enthusiasm, much to the chagrin of the host." 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
"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
"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
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
"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)
Total Pages: 9
Amateur Cinema