Una cueca en Cavancha

Peter Blackman, founder of Steel 'n' Skin, talks about this pan-African group, which takes African culture to British schools. The film follows the group during a ten day workshop in Liverpool.

Danser sa peine

A newly discovered film showing Tamara Karsavina dancing Mikhail Fokine’s ‘La Danse du Flambeau’ (‘The Torch Dance’). This performance was filmed in 1909. Tamara Karsavina’s shoes are not reinforced at the tip like today’s pointe shoes; she may have had cotton or wool stuffed into the toes of her shoes. (https://nycdancestuff.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/tamara-karsavina-michel-fokines-la-danse-du-flambeau-1909/)

A round-up of free events in London, including street entertainers, a puppet show, pavement artists, road menders, a daring demonstration by the fire brigade, an abduction staged by a film company and a military parade.

The Sanjoan folklore groups of Vila do Conde – Rancho do Monte and Rancho da Praça – tell their stories, traditions and, above all, rivalries, in a very contemporary and unusual way: through a ranch battle.

Hűség

A film record of a Soviet expedition to Pamir, not to be confused with Krysha Mira, a different 1928 expedition film also about Pamir, directed by Vladimir Erofeyev, released in USA as Roof Of the World. A pictorial record of the 1928 Russian-German expedition to explore and map an area of the unexplored heart of the Pamirs. During the expedition, three German researchers (E. Allwein, E. Schneider and Karl Wien) made the first attempt to reach the highest point of the Trans-Alai Range, which at that time had the name of the Kaufman Peak (today, Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina). They started climbing upstream of the Saukdara river and continued climbing along the Greater Saukdara Glacier towards the Krilenko Pass at 5820 m. On September 25, 1928 they started climbing from the saddle along the NE Ridge and at 15.30 they made the first ascent of Lenin Peak at an altitude of 7127 m.

Documentary, black and white.

A fascinating pictorial document: On an old, cluttered work ship, a man is helped on with a bulky, old fashioned diving suit. It's a complicated process, many layers and sections are carefully applied. He goes over the side. Some men row out to what looks like a wrecked barge and set dynamite. Then the diver returns and now laughs and acknowledges the camera. The other men, now safely away, blow up the barge.

A Tamil from Réunion invites us to a celebration in which the men of the community walk on fire.

A short dance film in Pathécolor, also know as stencil colouring. The editing cuts correspond with the dancers' costume changes. More about stencil colouring at http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/timeline-entry/1218/.

Christine attends her first and last prom accompanied by Martin Fredericksen

Bal Romantique à Montmartre

William K.L. Dickson brings his hat from his one hand to the other and moves his head slightly, as a small nod toward the audience. This was the first film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company to be shown to public audiences and the press.

Finland’s first nature documentary. The filmmakers’ expedition leads them all the way to the Åland Islands and the Karelian Isthmus.

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

After Awesome Tapes From Africa's Brian Shimkovitz found the energetic, ecstatic music of Ghanaian musician Ata Kak, the tunes became beloved around the world. It was all unbeknownst to the artist himself -- his music was even unknown to those living in his hometown in Ghana. Years of tireless searching ensued, and eventually the Los Angeles-based label owner found a lead. Ata Kak - Time Bomb follows the search that Shimkovitz undertook as well as the visit to Ghana that took place once he found him. It is a celebration of great tunes and how, when it hits the right audience at the right time, music can touch people in a way that you never imagined.

Rare black and white footage of Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones auditioning for the 60s hit NBC television program The Monkees.

Fragments of fairy tales alternate with observations of children. Documentary and staged sequences are combined. There is no break and no contrast between reality, the children's behavior and the imagination; they merge into one another.

Prima ballerina Darcey Bussell talks about her life at the top. From tears at ballet school and forgetting the steps, to becoming the Royal Ballet's youngest-ever principal and her favourite roles, Darcey recalls her performing career from its earliest days.