Cinematic Era: 1897 Vintage

Several young and cheerful children share at Cavancha Beach, while a couple begins to dance a cueca.

A shot of traffic in front of Palais de la Bourse, Bruxelles.

Cow herding.

Another critically acclaimed Lumiere street scene.

African men dance, sing and play instruments.

The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.

Hyde Park Corner, with crowds and horse-drawn traffic, at the time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Produced by Paul's Animatograph Works. Culled from Pathé Pictorial 624 (1930). (On view at BFI Mediatheque).

Firefighters at work in Belfast.

Lost 1897 film in which two men argue over the affection of a woman in a café, with their discussion escalating into a fistfight. Widely regarded as the first fiction film made in Spain, the original is now lost. Director Fructuós Gelabert recreated the film in 1952, a version often mistakenly assumed to be the original.

The tribe parades behind a couple walking under a canopy.

Swiss Army gunners practicing.

"Two men, with hands tied, are eating huckleberry pies for a wager, direct from the plates. Their faces and shirts are clean when they start. Extra ludicrous when colored."

A man trots around on a horse for the camera.

“Shows the vessel after she has been fully turned and on her way across the Pacific. The boat shows large and clear with smoke coming from the stack. In the foreground is a constantly changing crowd of people composed of men, women and children. Action is added by some late comers who rush to the dock to wave their last farewell. Life-size, sharp and clear.” (F.Z. Maguire catalogue)

A Victorian couple dancing.

Lumiere brothers actuality, filmed the 12th of March 1896 in Rome, in front of the Spanish Steps. It shows some couples of Ciociari performing their traditional dance. The Ciociari are the inhabitants of Ciociaria, a region in the south east of Rome.

To the sound of drum and handclapping, the witch doctor dances, spinning around on himself.

Restored in 2015 in 4K by Cinémathèque française with the support of CNC – Archives Françaises du film, from a hand-coloured 35mm positive nitrates with Lumière perforations.

A comedy skit with drinking and animal tricks.

Swans getting handled as people watch.

“By the Leanders. The dress of one consists of a pair of wings and a bow and arrow; the other represents a fairy. Bathers in all stages of dress and undress watch the graceful dance.” (Edison film catalog)

Angelic and demonic serpentine dance from dawn of cinema. Hand-colored frame by frame. Lumière no. 765 or 765.1 (colorized, different dancer?).

A very short Lumière-era actuality shot depicting daily life on 59th Street, viewed from or across Central Park, New York. The film likely shows pedestrians, traffic, storefronts or carriages, and characteristic architecture facing the park. Captured as part of early film programmes to offer urban views to audiences unfamiliar with American metropolises.

Japanese actors act out an early martial arts weapons scene.

Silent film directed by Georges Demenÿ for Gaumont. An actual remake of the Lumiére brothers' "Démolition d'un mur" (1896).

The scene takes place outside a café. Two workers are desperate to be served drinks, and the owner is forced to call in a policeman, who has great difficulty in expelling the two drunks.

Also known as 'Un incendie à Dublin I', 'Crowds Watch City Fire Brigade' and 'Crowds Watch Dublin Fire Brigade.' Lumiere Catalog no. 710.

Lumière's documents life in Palestine.

In the Chicago stockyards, the gates of a pen of long-horn cattle are open and the cattle are being herded out by several cowhands.

Two lines of workers, pulling a steamroller, somewhere in the streets of Saigon, Vietnam (nowadays, Ho Chi Minh City).

Uroczystości powitania cara w Warszawie (translated as Ceremonies Welcoming the Tsar in Warsaw) is a 1897 documentary film directed by Bolesław Matuszewski, capturing the grand event of Tsar Nicholas II’s visit to Warsaw. The film offers a historical glimpse into the ceremonial reception of the Russian Emperor during his trip to the Polish capital at the turn of the 20th century. As one of Matuszewski’s significant works, it highlights the precision of early documentary filmmaking in Poland, documenting key moments of imperial Russian influence and the grandeur of such royal occasions. The film stands as an important example of early cinematic documentation of political and social events in Eastern Europe.

A train travels along the tracks of the West Shore Railroad in Rockland County, New York. It goes through the Haverstraw Tunnel and out the other side.

A moving image of the docks of Liverpool. Lumière Catalogue No. 704.

"This is a very laughable scene. A guest in a hotel who has retired, is disturbed in his slumbers by a monkey, which enters through the window and goes through a series of queer antics. The part of the monkey is taken by a skilled acrobat; and his work in this scene is of a particularly clever sort." (AMB Picture Catalogue)

"Operacje chirurgiczne w Warszawie" (1897), directed by Bolesław Matuszewski, is an early Polish documentary film capturing surgical procedures performed in Warsaw. Produced by Paryska Fotografia Lux-Sigismond et Comp., it offers a rare glimpse into medical practices of the time. The film is silent, as was typical of that era. Specific details regarding its runtime are not readily available. Notably, the film was released in Poland in 1897.

Men carrying baskets on poles and women carrying loads on backpacks are seen coming and going in a port.

Carrara, Italy. A train loaded with marble exits a tunnel.

A crowded ship heading out to sea.

"Shows a large flock of sheep being driven from the cars to the slaughter house."

Gordon Highlanders during the Boer war

A man with a walking stick and a large black hat is walking along a narrow path in a garden or park. A large Great Dane is running around him. The hat largely obscures his face, which is only visible for a brief moment. It is possible that this is Otto von Bismarck and his Great Dane, the imperial bitch Rebecca "Beckchen." Since the bitch died in 1897, the photograph must have been taken in 1896 or 1897.

At the Charles River Speedway in Allston (Boston Massachusetts), cyclists on six-man bikes hold a race.