Visions of Lourdes

Around China with a Movie Camera

July 2016 •English

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.

Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown

January 1986 •English

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.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

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

June 1922 •English

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.

Weaving Women

December 1905 •Macedonian

A group of Macedonian women are shown hard at work.

Growing Girls

November 1949 •English

After several farmyard analogies featuring chicks and calves, the well-spoken narrator and director of the film, Winifred Holmes, considers the subject of girls and how they reach adulthood and readiness for the 'important job of motherhood.

El mar se mueve en una espiral

January 2018 •Spanish

Photographic and sound story, through the encounter of characters with their stories of a time without end.

Belgrade

August 1945 •Serbian

Documentary, black and white.

Silent Shakespeare

June 2000 •English

A BFI collection of 7 short films from the USA, England and Italy scored for Piano, Guitar and String Quartet.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

August 1909 •English

Documentary footage of the author and his two daughters at home.

Crabs and Shrimp

December 1930 •French

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.

Ténérife

September 1932 •French

Geschichte einer Sandrose

January 1961 •German

A boy from the desert tries to sell a sand rose in the big city.

Slaughterhouse

July 2001 •English

Documentary about a slaughterhouse in Quito, where hundreds of people and entire families work everyday. The smell of the place is warm and penetrating, the noise is intense, everything is red. Would that much effort and death have an ulterior purpose?

Opening of the Kiel Canal

June 1895 •English

The opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 June 1895.

Calgary Stampede

May 1948 •English

The pageantry of Calgary's colorful celebration of its past, culminating with its world famous rodeo, is chronicled.

The Celebration of Saint George

September 1905 •Macedonian

Early Balkan footage.

The Defilee of Army Orchestra, Carriages and Horsemen

September 1908 •Macedonian

Early Balkan footage.

The Police Tapes

January 1977 •English

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.

Carmencita

March 1894 •

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.