A vintage home movie road trip through California with stops at some of the state’s most beloved (and strange!) attractions. Home movies of the Golden State shot during the golden age of amateur filmmaking! Local home movie archive, Deserted Films (desertedfilms.org), will briefly discuss the work of their nonprofit and screen/contextualize a selection of amateur 16mm, 8mm and Super 8 films (some on vintage mechanical equipment). Amusement parks! State and county fairs! Natural wonders! Roadside attractions! Engineering feats! Ghost towns! Movie studios! This is what California used to look like! Arrive early to purchase wine or cocktails at CAMP Cafe for the show.

NEW FOR 2025: Remember Auto Bingo? Each “passenger” gets a card populated with items one might see on a road trip (camper, barn, motorcycle) and the first to get a line of five shouts “BINGO!” We replicate the game here…with prizes! Now pay attention!

Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron of Deserted Films care for and make accessible films shot in California (and sometimes beyond). Disconnected from their makers, removed from their contexts, these films end up at estate sales, yard sales, auctions, thrift stores, and antique shops. Deserted? Perhaps. Our mission, however, is to reunite these materials with the region they depict and to amass and make available a roster of films that present a fuller image of the area. The Deserted Films collection consists of over 1000 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm films, as well as a small collection of home movies transferred to, or originally shot, on VHS.