The Melbourne Cup

Footage of the German airship Hansa over Copenhagen.

A hunter and his native helpers set up a trap, then taunt and shoot a panther. Next we see the locals skin the animal.

On 4 September Frederick Albert Cook (1865-1940) arrived in Copenhagen on the ship 'Hans Egede'. He received a hero's welcome as the first man to set foot on the North Pole. He was greeted by the king, and given an honorary doctorate at the University of Copenhagen. Only a few days later, however, his endeavour was questioned, and in December the University rejected Cook's documentation. Carl Th. Dreyer is seen as one of the journalists taking notes. (DFI)

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.

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.

Vincenz Priessnitz

The sarcastic account of the assassination of five Spanish politicians between 1870 and 1973 is mixed with the narration of five short stories by Edgar Allan Poe illustrated by five skillful pencil artists. A documentary, a video essay, a collage, a provocative experiment where various pop culture figures and icons perform unexpected cameos. The macabre joke of a jester. Never more.

Gare du Nord : La Plus Grande Gare d'Europe

A group of Macedonian women are shown hard at work.

Documentary footage of the author and his two daughters at home.

A silent succession of black-and-white photographs of the city of Montreal.

This program presents the life and ministry of George Muller, who cared for thousands of orphans in 19th century England. He never asked anyone for money. Instead he prayed, and his children never missed a meal.

The opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 June 1895.

The film uses stop-frame animation to create maps on the screen, and showed the then-current military situation in the Dardanelles, using various maps to assist understanding. Small cardboard cut-outs show the deployment of men and ships. Intertitles explain tactics, and shelling explosions are illustrated by clouds of cotton wool.

Every day, Paris’ six railway stations welcome over 3,000 trains and more than a million travelers coming from France and all over Europe. The stations’ sizes are impressive: Gare du Nord is bigger than the Louvre or Notre-Dame de Paris. These railway stations are architectural landmarks and a model of urban planning despite the radical changes they’ve undergone since their construction in the middle of the 19th century. How did the railway stations manage to absorb the boom of travelers in just a few decades? What colossal works were necessary to erect and then modify these now essential buildings? From the monumental glass walls of Gare du Nord to the iconic tower of Gare de Lyon, to the first-ever all-electric train station, each has its own story, technical characteristics, and well-defined urban image.

A new film compiled from the BFI National Archive's unparalleled holdings of early films of China, features films from 1900-48 filmed across China. The cinematic journey of Around China with a Movie Camera contains many films which may never have been seen in China, or at the very least not for over 70 years. These travelogues, newsreels and home movies were made by a diverse group of British and French filmmakers, some professionals, but mainly enthusiastic amateurs, including intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries.

The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.

Jean Painlevé is interested here, with the help of Eli Lotar, in crabs and shrimps. He is particularly interested in detailing their anatomy and observing their mating and fighting behavior.

A film by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, shot in late October 1888, showing pedestrians and carriages crossing Leeds Bridge.

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.