A woman in ballet slippers wearing a large white hat and a long white dress - with ruffles, puffy sleeves and petticoats - dances across water with roiling waves behind her. She holds the edges of the skirt with her hands, lifting and twirling, sometimes exposing her bloomers and a dark garter on one leg. Her style combines ballet with the exuberant kicks and twirls of a burlesque dance hall. With churning waves behind her, the water seems to wash beneath her feet. The film of the dancer, "M'lle. Cathrina Bartho" (1899), is superimposed on that of the water, "Upper Rapids, from Bridge" (1896).

This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the ch...
Lucien Bull was a pioneer in chronophotography. Chronophotography is defined as "a set of photograph...
It is a dramatic film, with its colossal explosion and smouldering remains. Within seconds of the ch...

A documentary on the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Made by Istituto Luce, there is an understanda...

Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaher...

An Austrian director followed five successful African music and dance artists with his camera and fo...
A troupe of gypsies takes a traveler along with them on their day trip.
On a market day in Kernascleden, two Breton women exchange their hair for a few coins. The hair beco...
Also known as The Operation of Dr. Alejandro Posadas. Filmed with early orthochromatic film in the H...
A short, early documentary work showing insects exhibiting extreme strength and agility.
After celebrated careers , legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler became friends while ...
Released on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection's "Martha Graham: Dance on Film" collection.

Mysteries of the Unseen World transports audiences to places on this planet that they have never bee...

Two eighth graders doing an assembly on cleanliness and neatness seek underclassmen. A look into Don...
Short film about the manufacture of bricks.

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century thr...

A documentary film that highlights two street derived dance styles, Clowning and Krumping, that came...
Farmers' wives from Amager selling flowers.