Deserted Films: Holiday Oddities 3

Join local film archivists Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron of Palm Springs’ own nonprofit home movie archive Deserted Films for an evening of holiday-themed film artifacts from decades past. Home movies, shorts, animation, and more. Includes many unique, one-of-a-kind films from the Deserted Films vaults. Some vintage Palm Springs and regional footage too!!! All new treasures for 2024!

Have a drink and let us guide you through an engaging holiday tour of other peoples’ stuff! It’s our gift to you!

We see you, Palm Springs! Happy Holidays!

DEC 22 | 7PM | PALM SPRINGS CULTURAL CENTER

Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron, founded Deserted Films in Palm Springs in 2021 and incorporated as a nonprofit in July 2022. In 2023, it was federally recognized as a 501(c)(3). A bit about us: We collect, care for and make accessible films shot in the general Palm Springs region during that golden age of nontheatrical film from the 1920s-1980s when 16mm, 8mm, Super 8 celluloid film and VHS camcorders (instead of our phones!) were the tools we used to preserve our memories. The collection houses a fair bit of footage of Southern California, generally, and also our surrounding desert regions. If we love a filmmaker’s aesthetic and (be still our hearts) their film documents a historical event, we just can’t help ourselves. There are a few surprises. Really though, we encourage visitors to view and think about our region in context, in relationship to other cities, states and countries.

Disconnected from their makers, removed from their contexts, home movies end up at estate sales, yard sales, auctions, thrift stores, and antique shops. Deserted? Perhaps. Like archives big and small around the world, our mission 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’s unique development, its particular beauty, and its perpetual appeal. The Deserted Films collection consists of over 1,800 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm films, as well as a handful of home movies transferred to, or originally shot, on VHS.

Host or Publisher Palm Springs Cultural Center