Locals share family treasures on Home Movie Day

There’s a film of a Jewish family having a party in their home. A father performs a classic trick by sticking his hand out of his pants and poking his finger out of his zipper.

Then there’s a cut, and the next moment, a woman is in blackface, and the same father is doing an impression of Hitler.

This is what Home Movie Day celebrates.

Home Movie Day, which is every Oct. 15, is a national event in its ninth year. This is its fourth year at IU.

At 3 p.m. Saturday in the IU Cinema, it will serve as an opportunity for local residents to view and share their treasured or unknown home movies on the big screen.

“You have people from the community bring in their films, and there’s this great element of surprise to it because a lot of the time people don’t know what they have, or they haven’t screened it in years,” coordinator James Paasche said. “They’ll say, ‘This is a film my dad shot in ’52. I have no idea what this is,’ and they’ll bring it in and we’ll show it. There are a lot of unexpected things that happen.”

Paasche said this year is special because mixed in with Bloomington home movies are short clips found in the IU Archives. He has found clips of Dr. Alfred Kinsey grilling at a home barbecue and Elvis Presley performing in Fort Wayne.

Anyone who is interested can bring their clips on either 8mm, 16mm, Super 8, VHS or DVD, and they will be screened.

For Paasche, there is a lot of local and personal history to be found in these amateur home movies, and he knows broadcasting yourself did not begin with YouTube.

“The idea of sharing their personal lives through film — that’s been going on for a long time, and that’s what this day celebrates,” Paasche said.