With Reindeer and Sled in Inka Länta’s Winterland

In the Land of Giants and Pygmies

1925

IN THE LAND OF GIANT PYGMIES, a diary of Aurelio Rossi's 1925 trek into the immense Belgian Congo, preserves a long-gone-Colonial-era wonder at natural resources, "primitive" tribes, customs and costumes in Europe's cast African possessions, and implies that the "dark continent" could benefit from the "civilizing" influences of home.

The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk

2007

Film historians, and survivors from the nearly 30-year struggle to bring sound to motion pictures take the audience from the early failed attempts by scientists and inventors, to the triumph of the talkies.

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.

Los 5 Faust de F. W. Murnau

2002

The Diver

1911

A fascinating pictorial document: On an old, cluttered work ship, a man is helped on with a bulky, old fashioned diving suit. It's a complicated process, many layers and sections are carefully applied. He goes over the side. Some men row out to what looks like a wrecked barge and set dynamite. Then the diver returns and now laughs and acknowledges the camera. The other men, now safely away, blow up the barge.

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness

1927

Elephants disrupt the lives of a family deep in the jungles of Northern Siam, and an entire village.

À propos de Nice

1930

What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.

Kings of Comedy: Masters of the Silent Screen

2007

A documentary about some of the comedians of the silent era featuring clips from their films and biographical information.

The Wheat Industry

Invalid Date

Tells the life story of a grain of wheat In Casselton, North Dakota.

Buster Keaton: The Genius Destroyed by Hollywood

2016

In 1926, Buster Keaton was at the peak of his glory and wealth. By 1933, he had reached rock bottom. How, in the space of a few years, did this uncontested genius of silent films, go from the status of being a widely-worshipped star to an alcoholic and solitary fallen idol? With a spotlight on the 7 years during which his life changed, using extracts of Keaton’s films as magnifying mirrors, the documentary recounts the dramatic life of this creative genius and the Hollywood studios.

Man with a Movie Camera

1929

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

The Funeral of Vera Kholodnaya

1919

This film records the vast public response to the early death of Vera Kholodnaya, the first star of Russian cinema.

Dust of America

2011

A dream walk through the United States of America; a meditation on the thoughts and ideals of its inhabitants, as they are exposed in their silent but eloquent home movies.

Amazon: Longest River in the World

1918

Documentary by Portuguese Silvino Santos, about the Amazon, its flora, fauna, its inhabitants and among other wonderful images from the beginning of the 20th century with alternating close-up shots of caimans, jaguars and tropical flora with footage of Indigenous rituals--including some of the earliest known moving images of the Indigenous Witoto people--and longer sequences showcasing the region’s extractive industries: rubber, the Brazil nut, timber, fishing, even the egret feathers that were a staple of women’s fashion at the time.

Men Boxing

1891

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.