The Moving Image Research Collection (MIRC) at the University of South Carolina’s University Libraries Special Collections will present a series of four public film screenings of archival, amateur-made films in rural communities starting in September 2022. This “Regional Roadshow” will present films that explore regional areas of the state but have generally never been screened or discussed in the communities they represent. SC Humanities supported this project with a Major Grant.
The Moving Image Research Collection preserves films and videos produced outside the American feature film industry to make them available to present and future audiences. Archival holdings include more than 10,000 hours of footage in five main collecting areas: the Chinese Film Collection, Newsfilm Collections, Regional Film Collections, Science and Nature Films and Military Films Collections. Materials include local television news and commercials, home movies, cinemicroscopy nature films, and fiction and documentary films from the People’s Republic of China.
For the MIRC Regional Roadshow, films shot between the 1920s and 1980s in the selected communities will be screened, allowing community members to think about their past and consider how things have changed. Humanities scholars will provide contextualization, and MIRC will partner with local cultural institutions and local scholars to prepare programming notes and offer a community discussion.
Upcoming events include:
Tuesday, September 13th, 2022
5:30 p.m.
Orangeburg Library, 1645 Russell Street, Orangeburg
MIRC film curator will screen two films about Orangeburg: “Things you ought to know about: Orangeburg 1935” is a series of vignettes of everyday life in Orangeburg, South Carolina shot by itinerant filmmaker H. C. Kunkleman in 1935. Local businesses and organizations are featured, including the fire department, the police department, the high school, the court house, city hall, the Chamber of Commerce, the Verdery Dairy, Thomas Tea Room, and the Latta School of Dancing. Also features a “baby parade,” held in the town square. “My Home Town: Orangeburg 1946” features scenes of everyday life in Orangeburg, South Carolina: busy sidewalks, businesses and shopping around the downtown, as well as churches, restaurants, construction and produce industries, municipal services such as police and fire departments, banking, schools, a football game (1st Pecan Bowl) between S. C. State College and “Johnson C. Smith” University with a marching band performance (Dec 7, 1946), the thoroughbred horse Miss Carolina, barbershop, automobile dealerships and repair shops, various service clubs, the Orangeburg County Free Library, bus lines, and the Edisto cinema.
The screenings will be followed by followed by a discussion with Prof. Robert Greene (Claflin University) and Lydia Pappas (MIRC).
Friday, September 30th, 2022
1:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown County
MIRC film curator Lydia Pappas will be screening a curated selection of home movies filmed by Belle Baruch showing Bellefield, Hobcaw Barony and the surrounding plantation acreage during the 1920s through to the 1940s, along with two documentary films about the history of Hobcaw Barony from the 1980s. This screening will last for 90mins. Lydia Pappas will conclude the program with a discussion with Richard Camlin and George Chastain of Hobcaw Barony and the Belle Baruch Foundation about the Belle Baruch Film Collection. The program is free and open to the public, but reservatoins are requested. Reservations can be found here: https://hobcawbarony.org/visit/.
Additional screenings in other communities will be added in the coming weeks. Please check back for more information soon. For more information about MIRC and the Regional Roadshow, please contact Lydia Pappas at PAPPASL@mailbox.sc.edu.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 21-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
Image: Hobcaw Barony home movies, courtesy of Hobcaw Barony
