Home Movies: Experiments in Dwelling
Co-programmed by Justus Nieland and McKayla Sluga

As archives of private memories, home movies offer intimate glimpses into personal and family life. They provide a space of self-portraiture and nostalgia, but also opportunities for fantasy, play, and critique—for imagining different modes of dwelling. Many filmmakers have turned to the “amateur” genre of the home movie as a site of experimentation with the routines, normative roles, and restrictive politics of domestic life. Intersecting with themes in the 2021 AAHD Faculty Triennial: Where We Dwell, this program explores a series of innovative takes on the concept of the “home movie.” Ranging from canonical works of the avant-garde and contemporary essay films to amateur, educational, and sponsored films, our program features experiments in dwelling that open this “private” genre into a public, even ecological space for imagining community and building solidarity. Featured filmmakers include: Cheryl Dunye, Helen Hill, Sky Hopinka, Guy Maddin, Jan Oxenberg, Elisa Giardiana Papa, and Andy Warhol.