One of the first films ever made — discounting Edison's kinetiscope pictures — was a home movie. Very short and turbulent with static, the scene is a sepia-toned family breakfast in the garden, starring Auguste Lumière, his wife and child, and shot by Auguste's brother Louis as part of a promotion for the brothers' new invention — the cinématographe. The Lumières famously went on to terrify their audience by filming a train arriving at La Ciotat station, and accidentally changed the world with a contraption they thought of as a novelty. Though the sophistication of film art has evolved tremendously since the Lumière brothers' original shorts, they managed to capture the spirit of what makes the form so appealing, namely our desire to document and understand our own history and culture.

Home Movie Day, originally a small-scale project started by concerned archivists in 2002, embodies what made the Lumière brothers’ first films — and all homemade movies — so significant. It continues each year with the mission of preserving movies shot on Super 8, 8mm and 16mm film. This will be the first year that Calgary hosts a Home Movie Day, thanks to Dr. Charles Tepperman of the Communication and Culture faculty at the U of C.

“The big, general message of Home Movie Day is 'don't throw your films away,'” says Tepperman. “A lot of people think that once the film is transferred to VHS or DVD, they can just throw the original film away, but what they don't know is that those formats only have a lifespan of about 10 years, whereas, if it's properly cared for, film can last for up to 50 years or so. We tend to think of history in terms of political leaders or these grand movements, but people have a lot of history sitting in their basement as well.”

With the whole of popular culture slouching toward YouTube, the argument could be made that events like Home Movie Day are another way for us to further collectivize and mass-distribute our history. Though YouTube often conjures images of overweight 32-year-olds with self-diagnosed Asperger's syndrome shouting about Pokemon, this subtle shift in the way we think about and distribute information is far from negative. And Home Movie Day provides some of the best evidence for this. The fact that people are willing to share some of their most intimate family moments and personal rituals poignantly illustrates that we're less and less possessive about our culture and history — we're finally starting to understand that these are things that belong to everyone.

“I really think that things like the Internet and YouTube have allowed people to share with each other on this enormous scale,” says Tepperman. “A hundred years ago, family documents and archives were much smaller. There weren't as many of them — there were barely any photos, so those that did exist were precious. I think what happened in the 20th century is that we were overwhelmed. What Home Movie Day does is remind us that these things are precious and are worth taking care of.”

Though Home Movie Day screenings are often filled with birthday parties, Christmas celebrations and vacation films, Tepperman says that there are often a number of surprises as well. While going to graduate school in Chicago, Tepperman worked in a film restoration lab and also helped to organize that city's Home Movie Day. One film that he came across there remains one of the best embodiments he can think of for the event's mandate.

“This one Vietnam war vet brought in his home movies from Vietnam, where he was hanging around camp, drinking beer with his buddies and relaxing,” says Tepperman. “There was a lot of imagery that we're used to from commercial media or, say, Oliver Stone films, but I think it really challenged our definition of 'home movies' — even what we mean by 'home.' I don't know what the equivalent surprise film will be for Calgary, but I do predict surprises.”

Home Movie Day takes place Saturday, October 18 at Memorial Park Library. Visit www.comcul.ucalgary.ca for more information.