07.17.07
1897 Film Footage of Palestine Recovered by Lobster Films
Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films, a film preservation company based in Paris, reports that 93 small reels of motion picture footage shot in 1897 in Palestine has been recovered and are now being restored by the company. The reels are the earliest known surviving film footage photographed in Palestine and represent a significant historic find.
The reels of nitrate camera negatives, in small metal tins, were found in February, 2007, in an antique shop in Amsterdam. Initially it was thought there was only a single reel, however it turned out that dozens more reels were being stored in the shop’s back room. All available reels were obtained by Lobster Films.
Mssr. Bromberg made the revelation during conversation after a screening of his Retour de Flamme program at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on Sunday, July 15.
Though he declined to be more specific, Bromberg said the film footage was not shot for the Lumière company. (Alexandre Promio, a cameraman working for the Lumière brothers, is known to have shot footage in Palestine circa 1896-1897, in Jaffa, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This resulted in at least a few released films, including La Palestina en 1896 and Départ de Jérusalem en chemin de fer [Leaving Jerusalem by Railway, 1897]. Charles Urban, Thomas A. Edison and the Kalem Company are also known to have sent camera teams to Palestine, though it is my current understanding that this was later than 1897.)
“No, it was not Lumière,” Bromberg said. “It’s a completely different story.” He did not elaborate.
Bromberg went on to say that 13 of the reels have been restored thus far, with work continuing on the rest of the precious footage. The films will be premiered at a film festival later in 2007, he said.
Update: Restored prints of these recovered films will be premiered at the 2007 Pordenone Silent Film Festival. Learn more and see stills here.
John Fullerton said,
October 16, 2007 at 2:33 am
I saw the ‘Bible Lands’ films at Le Giornate del cinema muto in Pordenone last week. I am researching early actuality film (in Mexico, in particular), and would much appreciate receiving a list of the film titles from this collection that were shown at the festival. Thanks.
John Fullerton, PhD
Professor
Department of Cinema Studies
Stockholm University