Comments on: Private Century: Home Movies as Living History

By: Thomas Krul

Thomas Krul — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:58:24 +0000

” One day, Party members sweep in and confiscate the family archives, sending the glass plates to the local mirror factory where they are broken and used in mirrors. Many prints and negatives of WWII are thrown in the river,”

OMG, that put a chill through me. I HATE the loss of historical evidence…

By: s.w.a.c.

s.w.a.c. — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:38:20 +0000

I love watching old home movies, I’ve even bought a few reels at yard sales and estate sales. Even if I don’t know the people involved, it’s fascinating to watch their behaviour, and trying to guess the locales.

By: Suzi Doll

Suzi Doll — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:10:54 +0000

Thanks for the kind comments. I was hoping others would find it as interesting as me. We are putting the series out on DVD in September, so it will available for all to see then.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:26:17 +0000

I’m sure I would love this — I love all vintage home movies, and we are now seeing kind of a resurgence of respect and interest in the form, from several corners. Glad to see it, and wish I were able to see “Private Century” in Chicago!

Wonderful post, SuziD!

By: debbe

debbe — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:58:39 +0000

done it again suzidoll. fascinating i think is the right word. if only all our lives/ home movies were so interesting. the fact that their lives are “the stuff that movies are made of” is really the point. That someone documented so much of their biography and then someone was able to connect it into a moving thread that made sense… I dont know.. if that happened to us would we be as interesting? plus what is also telling is that in communist countries with little technology at the time they took the movie camera….the camera to unveil their lives…. they might not have had a lot but they had movie cameras. fantastic. very interesting blog. suzi doll.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:57:57 +0000

There’s something mythical about old photographs, even of people we don’t know. Carrying that fascination on to home movies seems a natural step. I’m fascinated by the series you described.