Home movies fall under the term of amateur films since both have in common that they were made by non-professional, private people. However, other than amateur films, home movies were not made with the intention to be shown in public but to be enjoyed in the privacy of one’s home.

The US non-profit organization Center of Home Movies finds the distinction between narrative vs. non-narrative home movies useful and provides an attempt at defining the narrative home movie as telling a story with a distinct narrative arc and plotted action.¹

Moreover, the subjects in the films play parts and show acting behavior such as with costumes, adopted roles or names, and perform scripted actions. Besides, structural devices are present such as title cards, cast lists, intertitles, or soundtracks with scripted dialogue.

¹ “Narrative / Non-Narrative,“ Center for Home Movies, accessed July 13, 2023, https://www.centerforhomemovies.org/narrative-vs-non-narrative/.

Examples for narrative home movies can have different forms, for instance:

1. Typical home movie footage edited into a narrative
   Private people’s special moments put into a form, which allows an audience unfamiliar with the maker and the portrayed people to follow the narrative.
   
   An example is the 8-minute silent film Summer Season (1938) by George Cummin shot on 9.5mm. The saxophonist comically reflects on his dance band’s last summer season in the Northern-English seaside town Whitby, as dark days loom ahead in the 1930s.
   
   
2. Imitating professional narrative film and television practices
   Often created by (but not limited to) children ‘playing around’ with a camera while either acting themselves or using dolls or pets as ‘actors’.
   
   An example is the 1993 comedic horror Snix (4’47” – 26’48”). Shot at age twelve, James Rolfe makes creative use of props, animation, and storytelling techniques in twelve minutes time, while recording on VHS and making use of in-camera edited.
   
   
3. Imitating professional documentary practices
   Indicators are a host or off-screen commentary, interviewing or vlog-style recordings.
   
   An example is Meine Russlandreportage (2003) about a summer day in a forest village in Central Ural told from the viewpoint of then ten-year-old Anastasia Langer from Germany, shot on Video 8 and edited using the in-camera technique.

Other forms of narrative home movies are definitely possible. The line between amateur film and home movies, as well as between non-narrative and narrative home movies, is sometimes blurred. 

Accidentally Cinematic is an exploration of the little-researched topic of narrative home movies. The aim is to compile the submitted films into a program that will be shown and discussed in selected community cinemas.

Home movies are beautiful artifacts of shared imaginary and remembrance. They might even serve as a mediator of historical traumas such as race, gender, family, religion, labor, war, illness, diaspora, and displacement.² The narrative home movie is particularly good at reaching an audience by telling a story.

² Karen L. Ishizuka and Patricia R. Zimmermann, Mining the Home Movie : Excavations in Histories and Memories, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 5.

The point of watching home movies is to see the faults.

In our experience, people think too little of their own narrative home movie. We often hear: “Great concept but I only made a silly film, playing around with a video camcorder as a child” to which we respond that this is exactly what we want to see!

The beauty of home movies is that they can serve as a mediator of collective memory. Watching them invites the audience to indulge in old times, as the intimate character of home movies allows for various codes of recognition.

There are digitizing services for both film and video. But with a little skill and the right equipment, you can easily do it yourself. We are not experts in this field, but feel free to get in touch if you need advice on the process.

Accidentally Cinematic is a curatorial concept by film programmer Anastasia Langer.