Levent is Moving Away

Two generations dialogue through the images they filmed of their children, a reflection of the emotional bond that arises from their involvement with what was shot.

Germany, 1929. Helmut Machemer and Erna Schwalbe fall madly in love and marry in 1932. Everything indicates that a bright future awaits them; but then, in 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power and their lives are suddenly put in danger because of Erna's Jewish ancestry.

Comprised of footage shot during the Nazi regime, including propaganda, newsreels, broadcasts and even some of Eva Braun's colorized personal home movies, we explore the way in which the Third Reich infiltrated the lives of the German population, from 1933 to 1945.

Stone Street documents the life and experiences of a Trinidadian diaspora family and their enduring connection to the long standing family home in Port of Spain. Through the intersecting journeys of this extended and extensive family, the filmmaker explores themes of home, belonging and identity in a life defined by the fragmentary nature of a migratory Caribbean culture. This experimental documentary combines a lyrical first person voice with a family archive of home made audio visual artifacts, interviews and events. As the documentary explores the fragmentary nature of Caribbean identity, it simultaneously celebrates the fragments of domestic memorializing found in home movies, videos and photographs. Stone Street uses these various forms to evoke the experience of a complex and diverse Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora identity.

Memory is a collaboration with musician Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), exploring the relationship between a musician and filmmaker and their personal reflection on memories. From Super 8 home movies and entirely handmade, this film explores familiar memories, the present moment combined with past experiences and how it all seems to evade from our present memory.

Notable for providing a bucolic, personal view of high-ranking Nazis. Eva Braun was the longtime romantic companion to Adolf Hitler, as well as a photographer and amateur filmmaker. Her 8mm Agfacolor-stock home movies, recorded at her leisure, were seized by the US Army in 1945. They were subsequently assembled into 8 reels, from 28 reels of original camera negatives. The US National Archives received this 8-reel film in 1947, and in 2012 began the digital restoration process.

With depth, intimacy, and humor, FLOAT! captures filmmaker Azza Cohen's magnetic grandma’s life-affirming journey learning to swim at 82, inspiring audiences to defy societal expectations of aging and to boldly look forward at every stage.

The private Joan Crawford fought as hard to create a normal family life as she did to establish her career. She forged her own path and to that end became a single parent, eventually adopting and raising four children. Like many parents, she picked up a 16mm camera and began filming both the special and the ordinary events of her family’s life. These home movies (ca. 1940–42) present that which one rarely gets to see: a larger-than-life personality at home, unadorned, just being herself—and often in color, at a time when her feature films were black and white. Crawford filmed most of the home movies herself; when she is on camera, it is unclear who is behind it.

THE LIMITS OF MY WORLD follows a nonverbal young man’s transition from the school system into adulthood. Brian has autism and faces the daily challenges of adjusting to his new life. Filmed from the intimate perspective of his older sister Heather, this documentary seeks to understand Brian’s personality beneath his disability. THE LIMITS OF MY WORLD is an autistic coming of age story exploring what it means to be a nonverbal disabled person in today’s society.

An home movie documentary about a young man with a camera who tries to recount and reframe a pivotal moment in his childhood: the death of his mother. An intimate and personal story about what remains of that mother-son relationship, now marked by an unbridgeable distance and an absence with which it is necessary to come to terms.

Just after Isidore moves to France to study filmmaking, his best friend dies back in the US. Through documentary, performance, and animation, a ghostly portrait emerges, prompting Isidore to question his relationships with his parents and his boyfriend in Paris.

Filmmaker Jan Oxenberg narrates her own home videos, commenting on how her views towards lesbianism and femininity have evolved over time.

A silent amateur film with a runtime of 1 minute and 20 seconds (DCP from 9.5mm reversal, 16 fps), presented without intertitles. Preserved by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna, the film captures scenes of rowing and diving during the summer of 1925 in Lavagna. It forms part of a larger collection of 9.5mm films discovered in 2006 in the cellar of Villa Rocca by Lavello’s grandson, Enrico Vassallo, and donated to the archive in 2007. Restored in 2025 using a 2K wet scanning process to mitigate damage from fungal mould, the footage reflects the technical limitations of manual camera operation, including occasional acceleration due to uneven crank rotation. As noted by Michele Manzolini, the film contributes to a broader visual record of informal leisure and early amateur cinematography in interwar Italy.

In home-movies shot in the ‘90s by her father, the filmmaker discovers in these inherited images powerful fictions of the Argentinian middle class and the country’s recent history.

When Melody was a young child, 20+ years away from coming out as transgender, she developed an obsession with movies. One of her biggest hobbies was acting out her favorite VHS tapes, FBI warnings and trailers included, in front of her parents' camcorder. Mom and dad realized this was an easy way to keep their child busy. Thus, the camera became a sort of babysitter, resulting in dozens of tapes featuring Melody performing in front of the (usually stationary) camera.

After discovering more than 100 Super 8 reels in his great-aunt's basement, a young filmmaker reflects on the value of these movies and his family's legacy.

Filmmaker Julie Buck explores her grandfather’s collection of Super 8 footage; the revelations behind the captured moments of joy reveal dark truths.

A silent amateur film directed by Nena Lavello. It is preserved as a 2K DCP (1'31" at 16 fps) from a 9.5mm reversal print without intertitles, held by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia in Bologna. According to Michele Manzolini in the 44th Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the film was likely shot in Lavagna, where the Lavello family spent extended stays at their country house, Villa Rocca. The footage captures leisure activities of Nena Lavello and her group of friends, known locally as the “robustine” for their energetic and athletic lifestyle. Scenes include beach outings, sailing, and games. The Pathé Baby camera used for filming was purchased in April 1925 by her father Arturo Lavello, possibly for travel or as a gift. The film reflects moments of youthful recreation along the Ligurian coast

1°. Nel porto di Genova, Veliero ("1. In the Port of Genoa, Sailing Ship") is a 1928 silent amateur film by Guglielmo Baldassini, preserved as a 2K DCP from a 9.5mm reversal print without intertitles. Held by Fondazione Home Movies in Bologna, the film shows a sailing ship entering Genoa’s port, likely shot from a small boat. Baldassini, a Milanese painter and etcher, used the Pathé Baby format to capture landscapes and seascapes, often as references for his artwork. His archive includes 95 reels filmed between 1926 and the early 1930s, focusing on family, Milan, coastal scenes, and mountains. He developed his films at home, experimenting with tinting, toning, and exposure correction. Many reels show emulsion decay due to aging and chemical treatments. Notes by Michele Manzolini and Mirco Santi appear in the 44th Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue.

A silent amateur film with a runtime of 1 minute and 28 seconds (DCP from 9.5mm reversal, 16 fps), presented without intertitles. Preserved by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna, the film documents a game of tug-of-war on the beach at Lavagna during the summer of 1925. A group of young participants, dressed in bathing suits, engage in the activity while a dog observes from the sidelines. The footage is notable for its stable tripod-based composition and the use of horizontal camera movement to follow the action. At age 16, Lavello demonstrates early technical proficiency and an interest in capturing spontaneous social interaction. As noted by Michele Manzolini in the 2025 Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the film contributes to a broader visual record of leisure and informal play within early amateur cinema.