A special screening of Starring Bandera, a short film showcasing local home movies and archival footage, will headline a day of free film and video digitization when the Texas Film Round-Up returns to Bandera on Saturday, June 28.
The award-winning preservation program, presented by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) in partnership with the Texas Film Commission, invites residents to drop off Texas-related films and videotapes for free digitization from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bandera Middle School, 1005 Cherry St.
Materials must be Texas- related and participants must agree to donate a digital copy for inclusion in TAMI’s public archive. Original materials will be returned by mail, along with access to digital files.
At 2 p.m., TAMI will debut Starring Bandera, a compilation of historic home movies and local footage gathered during a previous Round-Up in Bandera.
The film highlights life in the region through the eyes of its residents, capturing parades, school events, family gatherings, rodeos, and more. The screening will take place on the cafeteria stage and is free to attend.
“We often hear, ‘You don’t really want my home movies and videos,’” said TAMI Managing Director Elizabeth Hansen. “These are dead artifacts, and we’re trying to bring them back to life. Helping Texans digitize their media and preserve the stories captured within their films and videotapes is something we are passionate about. We can’t wait to see what we discover.”
The event is part of a larger weekend of community programming centered on Crossroads: Change in Rural America, a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibition hosted at Bandera Middle School through the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program. Bandera is one of only seven Texas cities selected to host the exhibit, which explores the evolution of rural American communities over the past century.
Residents of Bandera, Real, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, and Uvalde counties who cannot attend in person can still participate in the Round-Up by submitting their materials by mail through July 12, using the registration form at TexasArchive. org/Round-Up. Participants may also purchase a portable drive with their digitized files, with prices ranging from $15 to $80 depending on the collection size.
Founded in 2003, TAMI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to discovering, preserving, and providing access to Texas’s moving image heritage. Through the Round-Up, more than 50,000 films and videotapes have been digitized. A curated collection of over 7,000 videos is available to stream at TexasArchive.org.
“The films and videotapes we’ve received in past Round-Ups are truly time capsules of the Lone Star State,” said TAMI Curator Katharine Austin.
The June 28 event is supported by the Texas Historical Commission, the Bandera County Convention and Visitor Bureau, the Bandera County Historical Commission, the Frontier Times Museum, and the Still Water Foundation.
For more information or to pre-register, visit TexasArchive. org/Round-Up or call 830-796-3864.
.png)
