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Actuality
see all genres ›Particularly in the earliest, nickelodeon days of cinema, audiences were fascinated by big-screen snapshots of ordinary life. Or, better yet, extraordinary life, meaning anything outside their own direct experience.
Discover Actuality Films
Genres / Short / Actuality
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American Falls from Above, American Side
Niagara Falls was a frequently filmed subject. In May, it had been one of the first places to be visited by the Edison Manufacturing Company's new mobile camera but the films were not entirely satisfactory. With more experience and better technology, an Edison crew returned to film the falls in early...Start your free trial to watch
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Arab Cortege, Geneva
An early film document of international relations, the subject of this Lumière short exceeds its title. The promised processional of Arab dignitaries walks by the camera at the outset but what of the African men who pass on the other side of the street? A crowd of gawking Swiss men and women in the...Start your free trial to watch
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la ardilla
LA ARDILLA finds filmmaker Jim Finn in a brief routine with a furry friend, paired with a duet by Juan Gabriel and Rocío Durcal. Writes Senses of Cinema, "Finn beckons tenderly, patiently, and finally has you, and the squirrel, nibbling from his seductively pursed lips."Start your free trial to watch
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Arrival of a Train
An alternate and arguably more dynamic version of ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN, the famous Lumière short that inspired the myth of an early cinema audience ducking the image of an oncoming locomotive. In this version, the train runs on a left-right diagonal and far more passengers disembark upon the open platform....Start your free trial to watch
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Bucking Broncho
Cowboy star Lee Martin rides the bronco "Sunfish" in a small corral built outside the Black Maria studio. Martin was a star for Buffalo Bill's Wild West, as was Frank Hammitt, who encourages his daring by firing a six-shooter. Neither joined William F. Cody (alias "Buffalo Bill") on his European sojourn.Start your free trial to watch
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The Burning of Durland's Riding Academy
Fires reported on the front page of New York newspapers routinely brought filmmakers to the scene. Such films were popular in vaudeville houses and fulfilled the cinema's mandate as a "visual newspaper." The fire at Durland's Riding Academy, on Manhattan's west side, between Sixty-first and Sixty-second...Start your free trial to watch
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Card Party
For many, cinema began on December 28, 1895, with the first public projection of short films like EXITING THE FACTORY, ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN and this film, CARD PARTY, by Louis and Auguste Lumiere. But these iconic films also existed in alternate versions, sometimes with each frame colored by hand (as it is in this instance).Start your free trial to watch
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Carmaux: Drawing Out the Coke
One of the finest examples of the Lumières’ dynamic staging of documentary action, CARMAUX: DRAWING OUT THE COKE employs contrasting angles and depths in picturing a factory’s routine. Workers in the foreground spray and rake a steaming brick of coke as it emerges for a smelter while men in the background...Start your free trial to watch
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Children Digging for Clams
Children with shorts and dresses hiked above the knee drag their nets through shallow water in search of shellfish. Adults look on in prosperous dress while more distant figures walk the horizon. Each frame of this Lumière film suggests a developing impressionist painting.Start your free trial to watch
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The City of Singapore
"These are excellent travelogs which come from the Pathé Studios and give clear impressions of the people and their habits of life in distant portions of the world. Like all the travel pictures Pathé sends out, this one is made and finished with consummate care. It is well worth the time and effort...Start your free trial to watch
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Cockfight no.2
The first version of this subject had been taken in March 1894 but these early negatives wore out quickly. This remake was more elaborate as two men exchange bets in the background. The use of a white backdrop also shows off the action more clearly. Blood sports, including rat baiting, were popular early subjects for Thomas...Start your free trial to watch
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Dickson Experimental Sound Film
This short film is the world's first known experiment in producing a motion picture with a recorded synchronized soundtrack. Although the kinetophone combined recorded sound with moving pictures, even approximate synchronization was elusive. Still, William K.L. Dickson and his crew pursued serious efforts...Start your free trial to watch
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Dickson Greeting
Co-inventor of Thomas Edison's motion picture system, William K.L. Dickson, waves, perhaps first to his boss witnessing his employee's handiwork, and then subsequently to Edison Laboratory visitors who were given special access to this Edison-Dickson achievement. Of course, the film expresses a subtle...Start your free trial to watch