This scene is a part of the very first film shot produced by the Manaki Brothers. Despina, the Janaki and Milton Manaki's grandmother, was recorded weaving in one high-angle shot. For no apparent reason, the first shot made in Macedonia, in the Balkans in fact, made by these two cinematography pioneers, contains peculiar symbolics: at the moment when the grandmother Despina spins the weaving wheel, film starts rolling in our country.
Girls Taking Time Checks (1904)
Almost 200 women file by a device on the wall from which they take their time checks. A man runs half-way across the screen at the end of the film.
Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle (1904)
A camera on an overhead crane travels down a large, long aisle where men are shown working on large machinery on either side. Carts carrying equipment are shown traveling on rails down the aisles. There are also men walking in the aisles. From Bitzer's Westinghouse Works series.
Testing Large Turbines, Westinghouse Co. Works (1904)
On the left of the screen, a small group of men lift the top off of what appears to be a turbine with a crane and continue to check the machine, tightening various parts with wrenches. On the right side, a few men appear to be testing the workings of what may be a turbine.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
Nanook of the North (1922)
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Monica in the South Seas (2023)
Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.
Dr. Cook at Copenhagen (1909)
On 4 September Frederick Albert Cook (1865-1940) arrived in Copenhagen on the ship 'Hans Egede'. He received a hero's welcome as the first man to set foot on the North Pole. He was greeted by the king, and given an honorary doctorate at the University of Copenhagen. Only a few days later, however, his endeavour was questioned, and in December the University rejected Cook's documentation. Carl Th. Dreyer is seen as one of the journalists taking notes. (DFI)
The History of the Civil War (1921)
The epic story of the Russian Civil War (1918-21): the White Terror, the counterrevolutionary uprisings, the guerrilla war, the Kolchak front, the Wrangel front and the Kronstadt rebellion. Chaos and violence, devastation and death.
Butterfly Dance (1896)
A very graceful dance with voluminous draperies, by Annabelle Moore, well-known on the metropolitan stage.
The Story of Petroleum (1923)
Reel 1, an oil field is located, drilled, brought in, and pumped. Shows the Garber Field in Oklahoma. Reel 2 shows how pipe is laid and cleaned. One section crosses the Red River. Includes views of an oil camp and of a casinghead gasoline extraction plant. Reel 3, oil is distilled at a refinery. Reel 4, wax is removed from oil, processed, and prepared for distribution. Oil products are carried in tank cars, trucks, barges, and ships.
No Jardim (1896)
In a sunny open air setting with a background of high, deep foliage trees, and a white-walled storeyed house, an acrobat with light shirt and trousers and white plimsolls is doing acrobats in a trapeze in the center of the area. Behind it, a pair of men in similar dress seem to be carrying barbells from one place to the other, rather then exercising with them.
Crabs and Shrimp (1930)
Jean Painlevé is interested here, with the help of Eli Lotar, in crabs and shrimps. He is particularly interested in detailing their anatomy and observing their mating and fighting behavior.
Opening of the Kiel Canal (1895)
The opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 June 1895.
Fight for the Dardanelles (1915)
The film uses stop-frame animation to create maps on the screen, and showed the then-current military situation in the Dardanelles, using various maps to assist understanding. Small cardboard cut-outs show the deployment of men and ships. Intertitles explain tactics, and shelling explosions are illustrated by clouds of cotton wool.
Betti (2021)
A year after Betti's passing, her children and grandchildren are still clearing out a house full of objects. Through them, they begin to remember and tell her story. This way, the family leaves behind the sad memory of a terminal illness and replaces it with the joyful person that Betti was and meant to them.