Italian Family Films: The Case of the Archivio Nazionale di Bologna

The contemporary age is marked by a radical transformation of the modes of recording and transmitting one’s memories – both within the public and private spheres. ‘Family films’ are a product of the private sphere, and are part of the broader universe of amateur filmmaking, which began in the mid-1920s, and has steadily developed since, also in Italy as a result of the introduction of non-professional and lighter filming equipment.¹ Moreover, as an amateur audiovisual practice it has developed, since its inception, its own codes, styles and an altogether alternative and autonomous language, in juxtaposition to institutionalised practices of conventional