The Augustas

The Augustas (filmed in the early 1930s and the late 1940s)[1] is a home movie made by Scott Nixon, an avid member of the Amateur Cinema League and a traveling salesman based in Augusta, Georgia who enjoyed recording his travels on film. In this 16-minute silent film, Nixon documents some 38 streets, storefronts and cities named Augusta in such far-flung locales as Montana and Maine. Arranged with no apparent ordering, the film strings together brief snapshots of these Augustas, many of which are indicated at the point of a pencil on a train timetable or road map.

The Augustas
Directed byScott Nixon
Written byScott Nixon
CinematographyScott Nixon
Edited byScott Nixon
Running time
16 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish (titles)

Nixon photographed his odyssey using both 8mm and 16mm movie cameras loaded with black-and-white and color motion picture film stock, amassing 26,000 feet of film that now resides at the University of South Carolina. While Nixon's film does not illuminate the historical or present-day significance of these towns, it binds them together under the umbrella of Americana. Whether intentionally or coincidentally, this amateur auteur seems to juxtapose the name's lofty origin—‘august,’ meaning great or venerable—with the unspectacular nature of everyday life in small-town America.

National Film Registry

In 2012, The Augustas was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2]

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References
  1. Moving Image Research Collections: Digital Video Repository: The Augustas--Nixon--home movies
  2. Press Release: Cinematic Firsts Enshrined in 2012 Film Registry


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