It's time to dust off those canisters of old home movies, so easily forgotten in this digital-dominated age. The organizers of Home Movie Day believe such films -- yes, birthday parties, family vacations, weddings and the like -- are valuable cultural resources worth sharing and keeping for posterity.

The third annual event, planned for Saturday in more than 40 cities worldwide, was launched by a small group of film archivists concerned that amateur footage of the 20th century would be lost without a concerted public awareness effort. Washington's Home Movie Day will be held at the Warehouse Screening Room on Seventh Street NW and will feature 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm movies brought by attendees. Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia and New York are among the cities participating.

"We get a lot of people waving," says Amy Gallick, 29, a Library of Congress film archivist who volunteers as Home Movie Day's local coordinator, explaining that travel footage from the 1960s and early '70s dominated the first two D.C. events. She also remembers standout moments such as watching a group of older women learn the twist, and seeing footage of her mother, pregnant with Gallick, that she had never viewed before.