Amateur film

Amateur film is the low-budget hobbyist art of film practiced for passion and enjoyment and not for business purposes.

Organizations

The international organization for amateur film makers is UNICA (Union International du Cinema Non Professionel); in the United States the American Motion Picture Society (AMPS), in Canada the Society of Canadian Cine Amateurs (SCCA), in the UK it is the Film & Video Institute. These organizations arrange annual festivals and conventions. There are several amateur film festivals held annually in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Creation

Amateur films were usually shot on 16 mm film or on 8 mm film (either Double-8 or Super-8) until the advent of cheap video cameras or digital equipment. The advent of digital video and computer based editing programs greatly expanded the technical quality achievable by the amateur and low-budget filmmaker. Amateur video has become the choice for the low-budget filmmaker and has boomed into a very watched and even produced industry with the use of VHS and digital video camcorders.

Amateur (film)

Amateur is a 1994 film written and directed by Hal Hartley starring Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan and Elina Löwensohn.

Title

The title is also an acronym, encompassing elements of the film

Plot

Donovan plays Thomas, an amnesiac trying to put his life back together, who meets an ex-nun (Huppert) writing pornographic stories. The scenes of overt violence were new territory for Hartley, but the film was still in his usual deadpan and dialogue-driven style.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features excerpts from various alternative artists: