Before you needed luck: finding that roll of undeveloped film underneath a park bench was no ordinary occurrence. Was it misplaced by accident, causing great grief because of memories now forever lost, or was it purposely disregarded in an attempt to be free from the past? Either way, as the finder of these celluloid treasures peopled with anonymous relatives miming their muted conversation, you were always excluded from the ubiquitous celebrations and endless summer holidays. You never knew when or even if you were going to find one these precious gifts, how different is it now? Type the words “old 8mm footage” in any search engine and instantly you can create your own narrative: fishing trips, national monuments, fun fairs, girls in bikinis, ticker tape parades, boys on tricycles unwrapping christmas presents in pyjamas. All waiting to be discovered in the ocean of digitized souvenirs; forever lost until you drag them up like a fisherman his catch.
But the questions remain the same: ‘Who are they and where are they now?’
