AMATEUR MOVIE DAY screening of rare archival films on 16mm presented by WashU Libraries — FREE!
March 15 : 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
The first annual Amateur Movie Day is an international event dedicated to promoting nonprofessional filmmaking preserved by archives and collectors. Before YouTube, user generated content, and fan films, enthusiastic if self-trained filmmakers were working with friends and by themselves to make shorts, and even features, for a wider public. These weren’t home movies of birthdays (though those are great too!); they were live-action shorts, animations, documentaries, or abstract experiments.
Our screening is dedicated to films made by kids and students. That’s because the earliest known student film was made here in St. Louis by WashU students all the way back in 1916. The WashU Libraries preserved the films thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. The film is called The Maid of McMillan and it’s a fun, comedy short about modern college life in the vein of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. We’ll be projecting a new 16mm print of the film, accompanied with a recorded soundtrack by Dave Drazin.
Other films include a 1938 remake of Doctor X by a teenager who hadn’t seen the film yet, pre-music videos of popular songs from the 1960s and ‘70s, stop motion animation about the origins of life on Earth, a look at daily life in Watts before the riots, and an antiwar film by students of Chicago’s South Shore High School.
Films will be projected from 16mm prints where possible. Thanks to the Chicago Film Archives and the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive for lending us some prints!
This screening is presented by Washington University Libraries.
Theater Policies
- All seats are first-come, first-served.
- The theater opens 30 minutes prior to showtime, except for “Happy Hour” events and pre-shows when the theater opens at the listed start time.
- All ages are welcome at Arkadin except for Drinkolas Cage events, which are restricted to 21+. We follow the MPAA rating guidelines for all other films.
- Tickets can be purchased using the BUY TICKETS link above. Upon ordering, you will receive a confirmation email from Square. Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the show at the concession counter.
- If you’ve purchased advance tickets, when you arrive, please give your name at the concession counter to check in.
- Tickets are returnable by sending a request through the contact form located on our About Us page prior to showtime.
- When an event is sold out, we reserve the right to release open seats to customers on the waitlist. If you have a pre-purchased ticket and arrive late and there is no seat for you, your ticket will be refunded.
- All screenings are held in our indoor theater unless indicated otherwise in the event description above.
- Please respect your fellow movie-goers by remaining quiet and refraining from using your cell phone throughout the screening.