This was March of 2000. A trip to Shiprock, New Mexico with a class from Massachusetts College of Art. This was my first semester using film after 3 years of working with video. I loved it! I was totally hooked and ended up shooting more film than video. It just felt more immediate because i was editing a lot in camera. Film definitely informed my video work forever after this.

Complete high resolution video of this footage is available for download from the Internet Archive. See our File Directory for a link.

This week’s post is a beautiful, relaxing family get together from 1948, sent to us by Diane Dobronte in California. She offers some background:

This film is a real treasure for my family as it is the only record I’ve found of my Grandparents. It was shot in 1948 by my Dad, Frank Dobronte, on a visit to see his family in Trenton, NJ. My Grandparents: John and Rose Dobronte migrated to the United States from Hungary in 1906. They married in 1911 and went on to have 10 children, five sons and five daughters. They were all hardworking, tireless and had a lot of fun together.

This looks like a Saturday or Sunday at 940 Franklin St, Trenton – my grandparents house. Four of the five handsome sons are there: as they come out the door, Ernie, Bill, Zoil, Frank (my dad) and Grandpop (son John is missing). Three of the daughters, Maggie, Ethel and Bette are there as well as three of the wives: Zoil’s wife, Lorraine, and Ernie’s wife, Audrey with their baby son, Erniejr… always known to me as “little Ernie”; and Sylvia my Uncle Bill’s wife (daughters Helen and Rose are not in the film).

My Grandpop was known as a wonderful gardener and he shows some of his garden off in part of this clip. The little boy with the fireman’s hat on is James Schultz, son of Maggie… (we always called him Sarge-I’m not sure why)… he didn’t become a fireman. My Grandpop was a poet and wrote poems to the love of his life, Grandmom. Unfortunately I did not learn to speak Hungarian and missed a lot of what they said to me… but there were always smiles, laughter and lots of delicious Hungarian dishes whenever we visited – I remember a feeling of deep love.

In the clip they are all coming out of the side door that went into the kitchen… lots of good things were made in there!

Be sure to visit the Internet Archive for a full-resolution version of this excerpt and additional footage.

America, reduced to the serenity of a local girl singing the national anthem, the throttling of beaten engines, and the collective anticipation the moment before impact. The demolition derby is a beautiful symphony ending in a mist of radiator steam, smoke, and heavy night air that gently guides you from fairground field parking back home again. All of this so perfectly captured though sight in sound in Mr. Sherman’s little super 8 film.
– Aaron Valdez

Richie Sherman is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Video and Media Studies at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. He has an extensive background in various forms of filmmaking. He has recently received rave reviews for cinematography on the indie feature The Guatemalan Handshake. Demolition 7 is available on DVD through The Journal of Short Film (#2).

Sound is “CountrysideSummerEvening,” posted by pcaeldries at my favorite Creative Commons-based sound repository, the Freesound Project.

One of the things I love about transferring old films is the artifacts that often come with them. This film is in its original box, with its original stamp. I also found crumpled down at the bottom a booklet from Kodak for improving your home movies. It even mentions that you could get detailed comments on the quality of your films by sending them to Kodak for review–and don’t forget to include a three-cent stamp on your letter.

–Jen