President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy Home Movies by Augustus Sassa
Filmmaker: Augustus Sassa, 1961 (image courtesy of The Metro Theatre Center Foundation)
Conservation & Capture
Original format: 8mm film, silent.
Digital format: Footage captured at 4k resolution of 4096x3112 as DPX files.
Length/feet or running time: Approx. 28 min.
Circa: 1959-68
Status: Conservation and digital capture completed by Pro8mm.
Internet Archive: ALCF Augustus Sassa Home Movie Clip7357-50
Grantee
"In the past five years we have acquired more than 3000 reels of 8mm, super 8mm and 16mm films, films that portray everyday life, from the USA and from around the world. The truly astounding thing about most home movies, no matter who they record and where the films are from, is that we as a race share so many things. We are much more alike than different, and this is the most important message that these artifacts of lives lived provide us, a message of hope."
Ron Merk, Director of Film and Cultural Programs for the foundation has been in the motion pictures industry for nearly 50 years, and works closely with other organizations that are devoted to film preservation, including The Library of Congress, The UCLA Film and Television Archives, and The Academy Film Archives. The URL for the foundation is www.MetroCenterFoundation.org
Filmmaker
The man who filmed the JFK and RFK films was the late Augustus Sassa. He was an amateur filmmaker who really was fascinated by the Kennedy family and filmed them in different locations. He travelled to Washington, DC for the JFK funeral, and amazingly stayed with the procession the whole time. The films sat in the family bank safe deposit box for nearly 50 years, and were ultimately retrieved by Mr. Sassa's grandson, Daniel, who offered them to The Metro Theatre Center Foundation for preservation and to be made available for viewing, research and study by the public.