09.23.07
Restored 1897 Films of Palestine & Middle East to Debut at Pordenone Silent Film Festival
As first reported here in July, 93 reels of motion picture film footage shot in 1897 in Palestine and other Middle Eastern locations were recovered earlier this year by Lobster Films from an antique shop in Amsterdam. Despite being 110 years old, the camera negatives are reported to be in excellent condition.
It was recently announced that the restored films will be publicly exhibited for the first time at the 2007 Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto) in Italy, running October 6 through 13. The program will be titled “Incunabula: Bible Land Films.”
In an email message sent to Festival organizers in March, 2007, and excerpted on the Pordenone web site, Lobster Films co-founder Serge Bromberg said:
…this year, we have something very special to show. In an antique shop, we have discovered 93 wonderful little camera negatives from c. 1897, all shot in the Middle East (Jerusalem, Palestine, Egypt, Tibériade, etc.), that would form an ideal 80 [minute] program of what could be among the earliest films shot in the region still in existence. … They are in wonderful condition … Not a scratch, no decomposition, and those little sprocket holes typical of the films of that year.
The Festival web site includes several photographs of the recovered films, which are included below. No further information about the films is currently available, but watch this space for updates on this historic find.
