Moving Amateur Movies: The International Amateur Cinema Network in the 1930s

Johnston, Keith M., Tepperman, Charles, Mariani, Andrea and Schneider, Simona (2025) Moving Amateur Movies: The International Amateur Cinema Network in the 1930s. In: A Century of 16mm. Oxford University Press. (In Press)

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Abstract

During the 1930s the 16mm format enabled amateur filmmakers around the world to create new opportunities for films to circulate outside commercial channels. The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (IAC) World Tour began in 1934 and circulated amateur films through four continents. This essay describes the films that made up this program and traces their movement from the UK through Europe and Asia, simultaneous with parallel international film circulation in the USA. The essay investigates how amateur film organizations in UK, USA, Italy, and Japan mediated the connection among particular national film cultures and international networks, how these connections were articulated in local amateur discourse, and how the circulation of 16mm amateur films reinforced these articulations. 16mm film was the facilitating format for the global amateur network and this chapter investigates how it functioned and was understood during this period. The format’s capacity for both standardization and adaptability proved crucial as it performed a crucial infrastructural role in the amateur distribution apparatus. By the mid-1930s 16mm film was the lingua franca of international amateur film and the connecting thread of filmmakers in different countries and across radically different geo-political contexts.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	amateur filmmaking,international film circulation,british film,italian film,japanese film,united states,distribution,exhibition,history,visual arts and performing arts ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1202
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Media, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Comics Studies Research Group Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > British Cinema & Television
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	04 Apr 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	04 Apr 2025 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98965
DOI:

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