The Coronation of Edward VII(1902)

Turn-of-the-Century Surgery(fr)

George Mélies made a version of this a few years later, often titled Une Indigestion, but Guy-Blaché’s earlier film Chirurgie Fin de Siecle (1900) is more widely available. And it’s not one to watch the night before an operation. In this clinic, a sign pleads “On est prie de ne pas crier/Please do not cry”, and the doctors set about the patient with saws, cheerily hacking off limbs, and then slopping them into a bucket, all the while arguing ferociously with each other. They then reattach arms and legs from a bucket of “exchange pieces” (using glue) before re-animating their victim, I mean patient, with bellows. (from http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/01/23/10-disgusting-moments-in-silent-cinema/)

Eccentric Dance(fr)

"Danse excentrique" (Gaumont #587) is part of the "Miss Lina Esbrard. Danseuse cosmopolite et serpentine" series of 4 films, and should not be confused with "Danse serpentine" (Gaumont #588, the only extant film in the series), "Danse fantaisiste" (Gaumont #589) or "La Gigue" (Gaumont #590).

Kitchen(sv)

A simple depiction of the work in the kitchen of a restaurant. Eric M. Nilsson and cinematographer Åke Åstrand attempt to get as close as possible to reality, without any commentary.

Stournara 288(el)

Through the narration of a tenant of a block of flats on 288 Stournara street, we watch the everyday stories of people living in the city, their problems, their comic situations and their love affairs.

Sacred Earth(en)

A healing journey through the most beautiful and sacred places in the American Southwest.

Home(en)

A tormented woman believes a rare planetary alignment is actually a cosmic message from her distant interstellar home.

The Naked Runner(en)

Sam Laker is an American industrialist, working in Britain, who has just been awarded an international award for industrial design. He is planning to travel to East Germany to attend a trade show and show off his invention, taking his 10 year old son with him for a holiday. Meanwhile a British Intelligence officer who served with Laker in the Second World War decides to use the opportunity of Laker's trip and his lack of an intelligence profile to coerce him into carrying out an assassination.

Sales images(en)

"The problem is the filming of unstylized reality in such a way that the result does have a style." Part of the tradition of radical cinema the energetic collage of "Sales images" is organized sonic and visual chaos that - citing Magritte ("This is not a pipe") - addresses the issue of representation and illusion.

Gypsies(hu)

This film shows the gipsies' life in Hungary, the prejudices they are faced with when adapting themselves to society and the gipsies' ancient customs which often defy adaptation.

Alì Babà e i pirati(en)

Director Zlata Potancokova Belli is behind this engaging, colorful animated tale. The story follows young Ali Baba who, with his little sister, embarks on a seafaring journey in search of his missing father and brother. Aboard a huge ship owned by the Sultan, they are hit by a tremendous and violent storm, and end up shipwrecked on a desert island.

Mallory(fr)

After his protégé is killed during an unauthorized intervention, Major Mallory has now only one goal: to find his killers. However, he will have to compromise with the young Captain Lindberg sent from Paris to supervise the investigation.

The Distant Relative(en)

The distant relative is a scheming woman who installs herself as the guardian of the two orphan girls and then tries to gain possession of their ranch. Cowboy friends of the orphan girls expose the schemer and her accomplice.

Flow(xx)

A turbulent day in a life, painted by air.

Manon Lescaut(it)

"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini’s other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccini’s great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the world’s leading stars--Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo--head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.

The Night of Queen Isabeau(de)

The film depicts the marriage between the mad Charles VI of France and his wife Queen Isabeau.

The Birth of a Nation(en)

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Princess Clementina(en)

King James' agent saves a Dutch princess and marries her as the King's proxy.

Cabiria(it)

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his heroism, and Fulvius sent away to fight for Rome, is there any hope of our heroes reuniting?

Ivan the Terrible, Part I(ru)

Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.

Lumiere's First Picture Shows(en)

An overview of the works of French film pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière from 1895 to 1897.

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages(en)

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Milord l'Arsouille(fr)

Mitchell And Kenyon In Ireland(en)

Over a century ago, Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon roamed Britain and Ireland filming the everyday lives of people at work and play. For around 70 years, 800 rolls of nitrate film sat in sealed barrels in the basement of a shop in Blackburn. Miraculously rediscovered by Nigel Garth Gregory and later restored by the BFI, this now ranks as one of the most exciting film discoveries of recent times. Mitchell & Kenyon in Ireland is a unique and vivid record of Ireland at the start of the twentieth century. The collection contains 26 films made in Ireland between May 1901 and December 1902. Much of this material was unseen for over 100 years. The films include street scenes of Dublin, Wexford and Belfast; the Cork International Exhibition, scenic routes from Cork to Blarney Castle and more. They are accompanied by piano and fiddle music and commentary read by Fiona Shaw.

Two Lovers(en)

Set during the 16th-century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the story concentrates on the fiercely patriotic Mark Van Ryke (Colman). Donning the guise of "Leatherface," a swashbuckling masked avenger, Van Ryke performs his derring-do on behalf of the Prince of Orange (Nigel de Brulier). Naturally, Van Ruke considers beautiful Spanish aristocrat Donna Leonora de Vargas (Vilma Banky) to be a bitter enemy, and the feeling is mutual. To no one's surprise, however, Van Ryke and Donna Leonara eventually fall in love (hence the title). The pulse-pounding climax finds Van Ryke riding hell-for-leather through a rainstorm to warn the Flemish troops about the Spaniards' plans to burn the city of Ghent to the ground. Two Lovers was based on Madame Orczy's novel Leatherface, and adapted for the screen by Alice Duer Miller.

The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk(en)

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.

The Story of the Kelly Gang(en)

Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.

The Sealed Room(en)

The Count sets out to make a private room for him and his Countess, built in such a way no one can see, hear, and most importantly, disturb them. But unbeknownst to the Count, his wife has set her eyes on the court minstrel. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” and Honoré de Balzac's “La Grande Breteche”.

Sir Arne's Treasure(sv)

Three Scottish officers, including Sir Archi, murder Sir Arne and his household for a coffin filled with gold. The only survivor is Elsalill, who moves to relatives in Marstrand. There she meets a charming young officer- Sir Archi- and she soon understands that he was one of the murderers.

The Passion of Joan of Arc(fr)

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

Battleship Potemkin(ru)

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

Satan's Bite(en)

Made for straight 8's 2018 competition on one cartridge of super 8mm film with only in-camera edits and no post-production. Premiered on may 14th 2018 at straight 8's Cannes film festival screening.

Madame DuBarry(de)

The story of Madame du Barry, the mistress of Louis XV of France, and her loves in the time of the French revolution.

A Mormon Maid(en)

This silent melodrama is set against the 1840s westward migration of the Mormons. Dora, a young woman, and her family are saved from an Indian attack by a Mormon community traveling to Utah. They join the wagon train. Dora is pursued by two men, one a recent convert, the other a scheming elder with a stable of wives. The Mormon elder wants her in his harem. When the mother kills herself from revulsion toward polygamy, the daughter must consider her own future and the man she loves. One of Mae Murray's few surviving films, this was intended by Robert Leonard to be a thoughtful drama about the goods and evils of Mormonism, but today it is generally considered pure anti-Mormon propaganda.

Orphans of the Storm(en)

France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.