The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(1896)

The Four Troublesome Heads(fr)

One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory(fr)

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

The Kiss in the Tunnel(en)

Produced and directed by George Albert Smith, the film shows a couple sharing a brief kiss as their train passes through a tunnel. The Kiss in the Tunnel is said to mark the beginnings of narrative editing. It is in fact, two films in one, hence the 2 min length. Firstly, the G.A. Smith film here for the central cheeky scene in the carriage. The train view footage however is Cecil Hepworth's work, entitled 'View From An Engine Front - Shilla Mill Tunnel', edited into two halves in order to provide a visual narrative of the train entering the tunnel before the kiss and then leaving afterwards. More information about the filming of the phantom train ride can be found searching for the Hepworth film separately.

The Sprinkler Sprinkled(fr)

A gardener is watering his flowers, when a mischievous boy sneaks up behind his back, and puts a foot on the water hose. The gardener is surprised and looks into the nozzle to find out why the water has stopped coming. The boy then lifts his foot from the hose, whereby the water squirts up in the gardener's face. The gardener chases the boy, grips his ear and slaps him in his buttocks. The boy then runs away and the gardener continues his watering. Three separate versions of this film exist, this is the original, filmed by Louis Lumière.

The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon(fr)

Down the gangway, photographers leave the deck of a riverboat in large numbers.

Tokyo Train Girls: Private Lessons(ja)

New teacher Chihiro has been on the job for three months. She does her job with great enthusiasm, but she has a secret that nobody must know. As a student, she accumulated debt in order to keep up with her well-to-do friends. She can’t pay it back on the wages of a teacher so she started working part-time as a Chat-Lady. In front of a web camera that hides her face, she shakes her breasts and hips. By chance, her student, Kazuaki discovers the web site.

The Cabbage-Patch Fairy(fr)

A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.

Black Beauty(en)

Black Beauty lives with Squire Gordon and his stable girl Jenny. Squire Gordon is forced to sell Black Beauty to a cruel society lady. He is a sweet-tempered horse who through the course of his life encounters many trying experiences. He endures through his unyielding courage and faith.

Game of Cards(fr)

Three men are sitting around a table, two of them playing a game of Écarté. When the game is over, a domestic serves drinks.

The Bewitched Inn(fr)

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

The Dreyfus Affair(fr)

The first movie ever censored for political reasons. The title refers to the then contemporaneous Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish military officer was falsely convicted of treason, and it was alleged that he was framed due to anti-semitism.

Washerwomen on the River(fr)

Women wash clothes in a washhouse on the edge of a river.

Crane World(es)

The portrait of a man and his attempts to make things up with life after losing his job.

Post No Bills(fr)

A soldier stands guard at a sentry box and leaves it unprotected for a moment, a moment that two men take advantage of to put up posters where it is prohibited.

Motion Picture (Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory)(xx)

In the darkroom, 50 unexposed film strips were laid across a surface, upon which a frame of "La sortie des ouvrier de l'usine Lumière" was projected. The stringing together of the individual developed sections make up the new film, which reads the original frame like a page from a musical score: within the strips from top to bottom and sequentially from left to right.

With Love(pa)

With Love, Poetry when deranged enough becomes music. Self-conflict acts as a catalyst to love. With you, for you.

Eye Myth(en)

After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

A Trip to the Moon(fr)

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.

Danse serpentine (Annabelle)(xx)

In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of the flowing cloth. She moves to her right and left across an unadorned stage. Many of the prints were distributed in hand-tinted color.

Mein Wunschland(de)

Joan of Arc: God's Warrior(en)

Writer and historian Dr Helen Castor explores the life - and death - of Joan of Arc. Joan was an extraordinary figure - a female warrior in an age that believed women couldn't fight, let alone lead an army. But Joan was driven by faith and today, more than ever, we are acutely aware of the power of faith to drive actions for good or ill. Since her death, Joan has become an icon for almost everyone: the left and the right, Catholics and Protestants, traditionalists and feminists. But where, in all of this, is the real Joan - the experiences of a teenage peasant girl who achieved the seemingly impossible? Through an astonishing manuscript, we can hear Joan's own words at her trial and, as Helen unpicks Joan's story and places her back in the world that she inhabited, the real human Joan emerges.

Speaking to the Waves(es)

I was born the same year my father died, giving my mother back her reason for living. Day by day I live the pain of losing someone I never knew.

The Flying Scotsman: A Rail Romance(en)

Built in 1923, the Flying Scotsman was the first steam locomotive to run at 100 miles an hour and to star in its own feature film. This is the untold story of the iconic Flying Scotsman-the very best in the engineering of its time.

First Stories: Two Spirited(en)

This short documentary presents the empowering story of Rodney "Geeyo" Poucette's struggle against prejudice in the Indigenous community as a two-spirited person.

Kyoko(ja)

In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono embark on a search for a girl named Kyoko. On April 23rd, they are arrested by the police at a hotel in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Cyrille(fr)

Cyrille, a young gay farmer from Auvergne, has only one friend, a homosexual like him. One day, he goes on vacation to a beach in Charente Maritime. He cannot swim and sees the sea for the first time. It was there that he met the director Rodolphe Marconi who decided to devote this sensitive and gentle portrait to him, plunging us into an agricultural world in crisis and into a life often lonely and made up of hard work rarely pays off.

If There is Light(en)

14 year-old Janiyah Blackmon wrestles with her new life in New York City as her mom tries to move her family out of the shelter system and into a stable home.

Mining Poems or Odes(en)

Robert, an ex-shipyard welder from Govan in Glasgow, reflects on how his experiences have influenced his compulsion to write.

The People's Land(en)

A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain

Minuta ticha(cs)

Barefoot in the Kitchen(es)

What was the role of women in Spanish cinema from the 1930s to the present explained through fragments of different films, both fiction and non-fiction. (Followed by “Manda huevos,” 2016.)

Mythos Côte d'Azur - Liebe, Luxus, Leidenschaft(de)

Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers(de)

Documentary about filmmakers of the New German Cinema who were members of the legendary Filmverlag für Autoren (Film Publishing House for Authors). Among them are Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Wim Wenders.

Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny(en)

Highlighting one of the most innovative American directors, this film reveals the path traveled by the auteur from his small-town Texas roots to his warm reception on the awards circuit. Long before he directed Boyhood, Richard Linklater’s intense desire to create fueled his work outside the Hollywood system. Rather than leave Texas, he chose to collaborate with like-minded artists crafting modest, low-budget films in a DIY style. His ability to showcase realistic characters and tell honest stories was evident from his films, and others soon took notice of his raw talent.

Coded: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker(en)

Coded tells the story of illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, whose legacy laid the foundation for today's out-and-proud LGBTQ advertisements.

Contacts: Helmut Newton(fr)

Photographer Helmut Newton talks about his work.

Nostradamus Says So!(en)

The life of the French seer and some of his selected quatrains are reviewed.

David LaChapelle: Evening in Space(en)

Starting in seventh grade, artist David La Chapelle was so bullied for being gay that he dropped out of school by ninth grade. He moved to New York City, where being gay was accepted. David La Chapelle is an auteur photographer whose work has exhibited in galleries around the world and graced the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. In this personal short documentary, we are invited to witness a unique artist at work in his studio, while working with celebrated designer Daphne Guinness.

Europa Radio(en)

Commissioned by Philips, Europa Radio celebrates the company’s experimental PCJJ shortwave radio station in Eindhoven that went on air in 1927 and broadcasted to Europe as well as the rest of the world in various languages. Hans Richter’s film covers one day from morning to night, showing the range and scope of the daily radio programs – from stock market news and sports events to live concerts and a speech by Albert Einstein. (via: impakt.nl)