Grand Canyon Film Show

Nanook of the North

June 1922 •English

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.

Los 5 Faust de F. W. Murnau

November 2002 •Spanish

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

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 Dangers of the Fly

November 1920 •Spanish

The Dangers of the Fly is an educational film made by Ernesto Gunche and Eduardo Martínez de la Pera, also responsible for Gaucho Nobility (1915), the biggest blockbuster of Argentinean silent cinema. De la Pera was a talented photographer, always willing to try new gadgets and techniques. This film experiments with microphotography in the style of Jean Comandon's films for Pathé and it is part of a series which included a film about mosquitoes and paludism and another one about cancer, which are considered lost. Flies were a popular subject of silent films and there are more than a dozen titles featuring them in the teens and early twenties.

Tossing a Nigger in a Blanket

April 1898 •English

A method soldier boys have for amusing themselves in their leisure moments. New comrades are frequently initiated by the old-fashioned sport of tossing in a blanket. The newly arrived recruit, who is the victim of their sport, enjoys himself, perhaps, less than the other participants.

The Strength and Agility of Insects

August 1911 •English

A short, early documentary work showing insects exhibiting extreme strength and agility.

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge

October 1888 •

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

Carmencita

March 1894 •

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.

The Chillouks, a Central African Tribe

October 1910 •French

Short documentary on a central african tribe called 'The Chillouks'.

International Dances

April 1901 •French

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/.

Grand Canyon - Un voyage au centre de la Terre

February 2025 •French

Monica in the South Seas

November 2023 •Finnish

Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.

The Diver

March 1911 •English

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.

Man with a Movie Camera

May 1929 •Russian

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

How the Berlin Worker Lives

December 1930 •German

This documentary shows how the Berliner workers lived in 1930. The director Slatan Dudow shows through images: a) the workers leaving the factory; b) the raise of the rents; c) the "unpleasant" guest, meaning the justice officer that brings the eviction notice; d) the fight of classes of the houses of capitalists and working classes; e) the parks of the working class; f) the houses of the working class, origin of the tuberculosis and the victims; g) the playground of the working class; h) the swimming pool for the working class, ironically called the "Baltic Sea" of the working class; i) the effects of humidity of basement where a family lives, with one member deaf; j) one working class family having dinner while the capitalist baths his dog; k) the eviction notice received from an unemployed family and their eviction.

Among Wild Birds

November 1927 •

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

Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets

June 1984 •English

In this spectacular exploration you'll take a journey through the 4,000-year history of mankind's relationship with the Grand Canyon. Discover the earliest inhabitants of the Canyon whose lives are still shrouded in mystery. Travel with Spanish explorers as they become the first Europeans to uncover the Canyon's awesome beauty. Ride along in the re-enactment of US explorer John Wesley Powell's expedition down the raging Colorado River, when nine crew members risk their lives to become the first to travel the length of the Canyon by boat. Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets will take you into the rarely visited side canyons filled with hidden waterfalls and unusual wildlife. Experience the Canyon as never before: soaring over the rim and flying through some of the most inspiring scenery on Earth.

Departure of Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition from Lyttelton, NZ, 1st Jan, 1908

January 1908 •English

Footage of the expedition leaving Antarctica from New Zealand shot by government cameraman James McDonald. His excellency Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth Fawkes, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's Australian Station, visits and inspects the "Nimrod."

The Funeral of Vera Kholodnaya

June 1919 •Russian

This film records the vast public response to the early death of Vera Kholodnaya, the first star of Russian cinema.

Last of the Great Unknown

April 2012 •English

The story of Grand Canyon's hidden slot canyons, the canyoneers who systematically explored their drainages, and the secrets hidden deep within their walls.