This anthology offers the first systematic exploration of the 9.5mm amateur film culture, practice, and consumption, from its launch in 1922 to the present day. It breathes new life into our understanding of participatory media and its origins in the early twentieth century, revealing how a web of experiences gave rise to a vibrant ecosystem of collaborative storytelling and grassroots cultural movements that continue to shape our understanding of media participation.

The collection brings together the work of emerging specialists, early career researchers, and respected scholars from anthropology, film, media studies, and international film archival networks. The sixteen chapters in this volume bring fresh insight into early participatory media culture and confirm the ongoing influence and impact of 9.5mm film on global media studies.

The interdisciplinary approach and wide-reaching perspectives make it a valuable resource for cinema and media curricula, film archival projects, cultural and media anthropology, visual sociology, as well as gender, memory, and migration studies.

Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes is based at the University of Cambridge as a visual theorist, academic supervisor for the department of Social Anthropology, and 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 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 Practice Research Institute of Screen and Music (PRISM).