9.5mm Film and Participatory Media Before the Digital Age

Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes is based at the University of Cambridge as a visual theorist, academic supervisor at the Department of Social Anthropology, Fellow of Clare Hall, and a member of the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement. Her ongoing research and publications address questions of visual literacy and trauma, amateur media, and the anthropology of memory and migration. Zoë Viney Burgess completed her PhD in film at the University of Southampton (2024). She works simultaneously as a film curator at Wessex Film and Sound Archive, Winchester (UK), and as a senior research fellow in Screen Archives at the University of West London’s Public Research Institute of Screen and Music (PRISM).

• Introduction Part I: Baby Cine: kinship through technology—three-eighths of an inch 1 9.5mm kinship and the creation of a new participatory media literacy Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes2 The Pathé Baby attitude: voluntariness, amateurism, craft, and electricity Mats Björkin3 Framing fragments: a young English woman and her 9.5mm Pathé Baby Ciné during the 1930s Heather Norris Nicholson4 Women and the ‘Baby’ ciné: gendered approaches to interwar amateur filmmaking in Britain Paul Frith5 The sensation of colour: Josef Mroz and his shortlived colour process Mroz Farbenfilm Stefanie ZinglPart II: The world of 9.5mm: pioneers, experimentation, and recovery6 An Arctic trial: Pathé Baby in the extreme lands—the case of the 9.5mm amateur film of the Nobile expedition to the North Pole (1928) Andrea Mariani and Luca Mazzei7 The Pathé Baby projector: a tool of the Catholic Church Elvira Shahmiri8 Pathé Baby films of North Africa Nicole Beth Wallenbrock9 In search of 9.5mm widescreen Guy Edmonds10 A (small) history of Taiwanese cinema: Pathé Baby and its early years during the Japanese rule of Taiwan (1920s–1930s) Wei-Chu Shih11 They survive on nine-point-five: the lost films on the 9.5mm gauge and the need for their preservation Christopher BirdPart III: The social gauge: cine clubs and archival networks12 A mixed economy: 9.5mm in ciné-club environments: Crystal Productions—Bournemouth Film Club 215Zoë Viney Burgess13 The social gauge: 9.5mm technologies and amateur cinema in Europe Ryan Shand14 Filmclub 9,5 Bern: exploring the collection and participation practices of a Swiss amateur ciné-club Eliane Antonia Maurer15 Extending the influence of cinema: 9.5mm in Catalonia (1924–1940)Enrique Fibla‑Gutierrez, Mariona Bruzzo, Rosa Cardona, and Ignasi Renau16 The Grahame L. Newnham Collection and the University of Southern California HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive Dino EverettGeographical list of archives with known 9.5mm holdingsList of prices for 9.5mm Equipment (UK)

“A must-read for film scholars, archivists, and curators interested in 9.5mm film as a groundbreaking amateur gauge and its diverse histories of use. This volume offers a timely and comprehensive study of a technologically and historically significant participatory medium, shedding unique light on the roots of today’s digital media culture.” Dr Tim van der Heijden, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Open University of the Netherlands "It is wonderful to see this great variety of contributions about the famous 9.5mm film format, collected in one volume. 9.5mm stimulated not just one specific small gauge culture but found various shapes and forms in different countries and eras. The editors greatly assembled the existing scholarship, also proving along the way that amateur media scholarship keeps on growing." Professor Susan Aasman, Professor of Digital Humanities, University of Groningen. “This anthology offers a groundbreaking exploration of the 9.5mm amateur film culture, tracing its evolution from 1922 to the present, and highlights the Pathé Baby's original significance in the growing interest in small gauges formats. Owing to its interdisciplinary insights, the volume emphasises the significance of participatory media before the digital age. An essential read for media scholars.” Dr Mirco Santi, President INEDITS European Association, and Co-Founder of Fondazione Home Movies-Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia (Bologna, Italy)