Amateur Film

Heather Norris Nicholson is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Visual and Oral History Research at the University of Huddersfield

Nicholson's work over the last two decades as a social and cultural historian has been at the forefront of this reexamination of amateur cinema culture. This monograph represents a significant step towards understanding the specific historical nuances of amateur film practice and culture in the UK. The monograph is based on a multitude of sources, which are expertly synthesized. Bringing together regional film archive collections, interview material and specialist hobby literature, Nicholson succeeds in reclaiming the amateur movement's place within cultural memory and history."The number of sources consulted is impressive and potentially opens up various avenues of research as the films cited gradually become publicly accessible via archive websites. Overall, Heather Norris Nicholson's Amateur Film presents an impressively wide ranging history of reginal filmmaking, highlighting the range of interests and concerns that found expression within the amateur cine sector over a number of decades." (Ryan Shand, The Moving Image, 2014)…until now there has been no systematic critical study of the emergence and development of amateur film practice in Britain. This book represents a valuable contribution to redressing this situation.

• Preface and acknowledgements1. Making space for a neglected visual history2.The amateur club scene 3.The rise of a hobby press4. Family life as fact and fiction5. Local lives and communities 6. Gazing at other people working.7. An indispensable travel accessory8. Socially engaged filmmaking9. Moving pictures, moving onBibliographyIndex