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Lo más cercano a The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon primero
Man with a Movie Camera 1929
Documentary
A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.
The sides of Man with a Movie Camera
- A cameraman filming Soviet cities in the 1920s
- A day of city life from waking to work to play
- Split screens, slow motion and fast cuts
Good for you if
- you like seeing camera tricks invented before your grandparents were born.
- you like silent black and white film.
- you like the thrill of trams, factories and crowds cut to a rhythm.
Bad for you if
- you need a story and people to follow. There is no plot and no actor.
- you need words. It is silent, with no intertitles.
About: the city · modernity · cinema itself
Passage of Venus 1874
Documentary
Photo sequence of the rare transit of Venus over the face of the Sun, one of the first chronophotographic sequences. In 1873, P.J.C. Janssen, or Pierre Jules César Janssen, invented the Photographic Revolver, which captured a series of images in a row. The device, automatic, produced images in a row without human intervention, being used to serve as photographic evidence of the passage of Venus before the Sun, in 1874.
The sides of Passage of Venus
- The planet Venus crossing the Sun
- A sequence of photographs from 1874
- Janssen's photographic revolver
Good for you if
- you like seeing moving images from before cinema existed.
- you like a real planet caught crossing the Sun in 1874.
- you're curious about the invention that came before the film camera.
Bad for you if
- you need people and a story, not an astronomical record.
- you need sound, and this is a few silent seconds.
About: astronomy · invention · early cinema

À propos de Nice 1930
Documentary
What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Côte d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
The sides of À propos de Nice
- A silent portrait of Nice in 1930
- Wealthy tourists on the Promenade
- The poor streets behind the postcards
Good for you if
- you love silent films from 1930.
- you like Jean Vigo's quick, mocking montage.
- you want something under half an hour.
Bad for you if
- you're put off by avant-garde cutting. Vigo jumps from carnival floats to cemetery statues.
- you want a person to follow, not a portrait of a town.
About: wealth · class · the city
Nanook of the North 1922
Documentary
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
The sides of Nanook of the North
- An Inuit hunter and his family in northern Quebec
- An igloo built by hand
- A walrus hunt with harpoons
Good for you if
- you like the frozen landscapes of the far north.
- you like watching people find food and shelter in deep cold.
- you're curious about one of the very first documentaries.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch silent black and white films.
- you need momentum. Whole minutes go to cutting snow blocks for an igloo.
About: survival · family · the Arctic

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory 1895
Documentary
“The workers leave the Lumière factory.” Workers pass through the gate of the Lumière factory and are followed by a carriage drawn by two horses.
The sides of Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
- Workers walking out of a factory gate in Lyon
- A horse-drawn carriage
- Less than a minute of film
Good for you if
- you want to see one of the very first films ever shown.
- you like seeing ordinary people from 1895 walk past the camera.
Bad for you if
- you want people with a story to follow.
- you want a film for the evening. This one lasts under a minute.
About: early cinema · work · everyday life

Demolition of a Wall 1896
Documentary
“The scene depicts the collapse of a section of wall in a factory.” Three workers demolish a wall in the presence of Auguste Lumière.
The sides of Demolition of a Wall
- Three workers knocking down a factory wall
- Auguste Lumière watching them
- One minute of 1896
Good for you if
- you like the very first films ever shown.
- you want to see ordinary work in 1896, filmed by the Lumières.
Bad for you if
- you need a story and people to follow.
- you want words, and this is one silent minute.
About: early cinema · work · time

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927
Documentary
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
The sides of Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
- One day in Berlin, from dawn to night
- Trains, factories and crowded streets
- Silent black and white images cut to a rhythm
Good for you if
- you like a city filmed like a machine, frame after frame.
- you want to see Berlin as it really looked in 1927.
- you want a silent film that's over in under seventy minutes.
Bad for you if
- you find silent black and white films dated.
- you need people and a story to follow.
About: the city · modern life · work

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations 1938
Documentary
Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
The sides of Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations
- The 1936 Berlin Olympics
- Jesse Owens winning four gold medals
- A film made for the Nazi regime
Good for you if
- you like Leni Riefenstahl's camera angles that shaped how sport is filmed.
- you like watching athletes in motion, event after event.
- you want to see how the Nazi regime staged the 1936 Games.
Bad for you if
- you find black and white films from the 1930s dated.
- you won't read subtitles for German narration.
About: propaganda · the body · competition
Salesman 1969
Documentary
This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.
The sides of Salesman
- Four Bible salesmen on the road
- Sales pitches in working-class living rooms
- Motel rooms between visits
Good for you if
- you like watching real door-to-door salesmen at work in 1960s America.
- you like following Paul Brennan as his pitch stops working.
- you enjoy black and white documentaries from the sixties.
Bad for you if
- you need more happening than sales pitches in living rooms.
- you need music to carry a film. There's no score and no narrator, just the salesmen talking.
About: work · failure · the American dream

Boat Leaving the Port 1895
Documentary
In very bad weather and a stormy sea, a small boat manned by two men is trying to leave the harbor of La Ciotat, while several people are watching them from the nearby pier.
The sides of Boat Leaving the Port
- A small rowing boat leaving La Ciotat
- Two men against a rough sea
- People watching from the pier
Good for you if
- you love the very first films shot by the Lumière brothers.
- you want to see the harbour of La Ciotat as it was in 1895.
- you want a film that lasts less than a minute.
Bad for you if
- you need people you get to know and a story to follow.
- you need words, and this is one silent minute.
About: the birth of cinema · the sea · everyday life
Titicut Follies 1967
Documentary
Employing methods of direct cinema–observation, limited stylization, and non-intervention–this stark look into the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts shows its denizens, who were often kept in barren cells and infrequently bathed, forced to strip naked publicly, force feeding, and the indifference and bullying by many of the hospital's staff.
The sides of Titicut Follies
- Bridgewater State Hospital in 1967
- Patients and guards with no narration
- A variety show put on by staff and inmates
Good for you if
- you want to see a real prison hospital with no narrator telling you what to think.
- you like raw black and white footage from the 1960s.
- you want to see what total power over patients looks like.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch patients stripped, mocked and force fed.
- you need some hope by the end.
About: confinement · dignity · cruelty

Chronicle of a Summer 1961
Documentary
Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.
The sides of Chronicle of a Summer
- Passersby in Paris asked if they are happy
- Workers, students and friends talking about their lives
- Paris and Saint-Tropez in the summer of 1960
Good for you if
- you like black and white films that invented a way of filming.
- you like long, honest conversations with ordinary people.
- you want to feel France in 1960, with the Algerian war in the background.
Bad for you if
- you won't read subtitles.
- you need momentum more than long conversations.
About: happiness · work · friendship · the human condition

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat 1896
Documentary
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
The sides of The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
- A train pulling into a station in 1896
- People waiting on a platform
- One shot, under a minute, no sound
Good for you if
- you like black and white film from before anyone knew what film was for.
- you want to see how people stood and dressed in 1896.
- you like watching real people do an ordinary thing.
Bad for you if
- you want people to follow and a story to care about.
- you watch for scale and sound on a big screen.
About: early cinema · travel · crowds
Häxan 1922
Documentary
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.
The sides of Häxan
- A silent essay on witchcraft and the devil
- Staged scenes of torture and confession
- A witches' sabbath reenacted
Good for you if
- you like devils, flying brooms and a sabbath staged in 1922.
- you want images that still unsettle a hundred years later.
- you like the Middle Ages shown through a trial and a confession.
Bad for you if
- a silent black and white film feels dated to you.
- you can't watch torture shown on screen.
About: superstition · witch hunts · madness
Land Without Bread 1933
Documentary
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
The sides of Land Without Bread
- Villages of Las Hurdes in 1932
- Luis Buñuel behind the camera
- Poverty filmed with a cold narrator
Good for you if
- you like Buñuel turning a documentary into something strange.
- you can take a film about misery with no comfort offered.
- you want to see rural Spain before the civil war.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch sick children and animals dying on screen.
- you can't take a narrator's dry irony over real people's suffering.
- you find films from the 1930s dated.
About: poverty · isolation · the gaze of outsiders

Baby's Meal 1895
Documentary
A dad feeds his lunch to a baby.
The sides of Baby's Meal
- Auguste Lumière and his wife feeding their baby
- A family meal in a garden
- Less than a minute of film
Good for you if
- you want to see one of the first films ever shown.
- you like a small family moment saved from 1895.
- you want something gentle with nothing at stake.
Bad for you if
- you want people with a story to follow.
- you need something to happen besides a baby eating.
About: early cinema · parenthood · everyday life
The Salt of the Earth 2014
Documentary
During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.
The sides of The Salt of the Earth
- Forty years of photographs by one man
- A gold mine crowded with thousands of workers
- A dead family farm replanted into a forest
Good for you if
- you can look at black and white photographs for nearly two hours.
- you want the man who took the pictures to tell you where he was standing.
- you like whales, glaciers and a forest growing back.
Bad for you if
- you can't look at photographs of famine and massacre.
- you won't read subtitles while the photographer speaks his own language.
About: humanity · despair · renewal
Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back 1967
Documentary
In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.
The sides of Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back
- Bob Dylan on tour in England in 1965
- Cue cards dropped one by one
- Joan Baez and Donovan in hotel rooms
Good for you if
- you want young Dylan playing alone with a guitar and a harmonica.
- you like a black and white film shot on the fly.
- you can't look away from Dylan sparring with journalists.
Bad for you if
- you need a story that moves, not a camera that just follows.
- you want an artist who opens up, not one who mocks every question.
About: fame · youth · the press

Day of the Fight 1951
Documentary
Stanley Kubrick’s debut documentary, following Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier on April 17, 1950—the day of his bout with Bobby James. The film traces Cartier’s quiet morning rituals, training, and anxious hours before the match, culminating in his swift victory that night in Newark. Opening with a brief history of boxing, Kubrick’s tightly crafted short captures the discipline, isolation, and tension behind a fighter’s daily routine.
The sides of Day of the Fight
- A middleweight boxer on the day of his fight
- Stanley Kubrick's first film
- A twin brother at his side
Good for you if
- you like seeing a boxer's day away from the ring.
- you like a real fighter, Walter Cartier, filmed as he was in 1950.
- you like the slow wait of the hours before a fight.
Bad for you if
- you find black and white newsreels dated.
- you want a long fight, not a short one at the end.
About: discipline · solitude · waiting
Love Meetings 1965
Documentary
Pier Paolo Pasolini sets out to interview Italians about sex, apparently their least favorite thing to talk about in public: he asks children if they know where babies come from; asks old and young women if they support gender equality; asks both sexes if a woman's virginity still matters, what do they think of homosexuality, if divorce should be legal, or if they support the recent abolition of brothels. He interviews blue-collar workers, intellectuals, college students, rural farmers, the bourgeoisie, and every other kind of people, painting a vivid portrait of a rapidly-industrializing Italy, hanging between modernity and tradition — toward both of which Pasolini shows equal distrust.
The sides of Love Meetings
- Pasolini with a microphone across Italy
- Children asked where babies come from
- Questions on divorce, virginity and homosexuality
Good for you if
- you like ordinary people answering questions they never get asked.
- you want to see Italy in the sixties, torn between old and new.
- you like interviews where the hesitations say as much as the answers.
Bad for you if
- you won't read subtitles.
- you find black and white documentaries dated.
About: sexuality · tradition · modernity · morality