KIAMA residents can view rarely seen films featuring major Hollywood stars this month.
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Friends of Kiama Library (FOKL) and Kiama and District Historical Society (KDHS) are having a joint event on Saturday, July 11 at 2.30pm in the Kiama Family History Centre, Railway Parade.
The speaker is distinguished archivist and film buff Dr Ray Edmondson OAM, who will be showing some clips from the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.
The program includes comedy shorts starring W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, followed by a couple of rare films which are believed to have never been shown in Kiama.
These include Bob's Busy Day (1934), the first film starring Bob Hope.
It was a short subject made for a low-budget studio.
Dr Edmondson described it as a "curiosity" that the star wasn't too fond of.
"It's quite fun to watch though," he said.
Another is Blue Of The Night (1933), a short film starring Bing Crosby, one of a series he made for comedy producer Mack Sennett, again before Crosby became a major star in feature films.
It contains some of his trademark songs.
"It's also good fun to watch, and quite well made," Dr Edmondson said.
"I doubt either film would have been seen in Kiama before.
"I have no idea if they were even distributed in Australia."
Canberra-based Dr Edmondson said the experience of watching real films projected is rare in the digital age, as movie theatres only showed digital images now.
He said the screening of the 16mm prints would be a throwback thrill during a "light and enjoyable" afternoon.
"I'll just give a commentary as we go, and talk about preservation," he said.
"It's just an enjoyable afternoon, and you get to see some of the great comedians."
Dr Edmondson is a pioneer of film and sound archiving and recipient of an OAM Doctor of Philosophy, 2012.
He has been an international leader in preserving, restoring, interpreting and presenting audiovisual media.
His book, Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles, is a professional standard for those learning film and sound archiving and has been translated into ten languages.
His career began in 1968 when he joined the National Library of Australia as a film reference librarian, and he is a founder of Australia's National Film and Sound Archive, established in 1984.
Entry donation is $5 members and $8 visitors.
All welcome.