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.
How Animated Cartoons Are Made (1919)
Wallace Carlson walks viewers through the production of an animated short at Bray Studios.
Mode Reville (1929)
Silent documentary short showcasing a fashion show in the late twenties set at the Côte d'Azur.
One Second in Montreal (1969)
A silent succession of black-and-white photographs of the city of Montreal.
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (2024)
A multigenerational story celebrating director Sean Wang's two grandmothers, one on his father's side and the other on his mother's side.
Half Elf (2020)
A lighthouse keeper prepares his earthly funeral while trying to reconnect with his inner elf. Hulda and Trausti have shared a roof on the Icelandic coast for over seventy years. Her love of books is matched by his love of stones. When he tells her he wants to change his name to Elf she warns him that the family will reject him. Now, as his one hundredth birthday nears and Trausti senses the hand of death upon him, he is searching for an elf’s coffin…
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.
Around China with a Movie Camera (2016)
A new film compiled from the BFI National Archive's unparalleled holdings of early films of China, features films from 1900-48 filmed across China. The cinematic journey of Around China with a Movie Camera contains many films which may never have been seen in China, or at the very least not for over 70 years. These travelogues, newsreels and home movies were made by a diverse group of British and French filmmakers, some professionals, but mainly enthusiastic amateurs, including intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries.
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.
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown (1986)
Two part biography of Greta Garbo - 1. The Temptress 2. The Clown. Reminiscences of her early life in Stockholm, with excerpts from her films. Narrated by Bibi Andersson.
Silent Shakespeare (2000)
A BFI collection of 7 short films from the USA, England and Italy scored for Piano, Guitar and String Quartet.
Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives and Magic (2011)
The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.
SYNCHRONOUS (2022)
SYNCHRONOUS is an intimate portrait of love and the reverse side of love: mourning. The granddaughter/maker looks idealistically at the endless love between her grandfather and grandmother. When her grandfather dies, she decides to look for answers by filming her grandmother. What happens when you've been together all your life and your great love dies? Where is the love then?
Lumiere's First Picture Shows (2013)
An overview of the works of French film pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière from 1895 to 1897.
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.
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Emerging from the Boathouse (1898)
"The Worthing Station is some distance from the shore, and whenever there is a wreck the life-boat is dragged to the scene on a huge truck drawn by eight horses. Our picture shows the life-boat responding to an alarm. The horses start out from the station at a gallop, and the members of the crew run beside the boat. This negative is unusually fine photographically."