Short film collections

2-disc DVD about the origins of the cinema. Dogs playing the pianos, contortionists defying the pain limits, handcoloured serpentine dances: attractions and sensations characterize the travelling cinema of the fairgrounds in the beginning of the 20th century. Rarities from the trasure chests of the European film archives ranging from Danish anarchistic slapstick and Scottish X-ray films to French erotic piquancies and a wild chase through Brussels caused by a leopard. Local films from the region Luxembourg, Trier and Saarbrücken resent a forgotten genre which was, in its days, another crowd puller in travelling cinema: Filmed local events and scenes depicting the local people who would then pay to see themselves in "living photographs" on the big screen.

Der Eiffelturm, King Kong und die weiße Frau: Early works for television from 1988-1990, following the principle of "one minute films", which characterize the beginning of film history. Mann ohne Kopf: Ballads and catastrophies, ground zero and people running amok. Together with new readings with Alexander Kluge, filmed in 2007. Additional texts from his work at television in the booklet and as ROM features.

Expected release date: July 2008

Since 1920 artist, photographer, and filmmaker Ella Bergmann-Michel lived and worked at the "Schmelz", an old paint mill near Frankfurt on Main. With guests such as Kurt Schwitters and László Moholy-Nagy the house became an important locale for modern artists. Between 1931 and 1933 she made five documentary films that constitute a rare example of socially involved and equally artistic film. The DVD contains these five films, a documentary film about the artist and a comprehensive booklet with essays on Ella Bergmann-Michel's films.

In his pictures, films, collages and installations, the painter and filmmakerLutz Dammbeck seeks a synthesis of expressive means from the genres of film and fine art. His work to date identifies him as one of the key representatives of independent film and media art in the former GDR and as a unique, outstanding phenomenon within modern contemporary art. The 2-disc DVD presents for the first time all his animation films and media works, including an extensive booklet with essays about Lutz Dammbeck's filmic work and a lot of documents about his fight with state authorities as ROM features.

Release date: July 2008

2-disc DVD: The Power of Emotion explains that emotion isn't to be confused with sentimentality. Emotion is ancient and more powerful than any art form. The film looks at young couples who run into difficulties as they try to translate their experiences of love into clear decision-making. A woman who has shot her husband provides a judge with a puzzle. Those who love can bring the dead back to life by means of co-operation. That's the focus of the opera, "The Power Plant of Emotions" and the "Opera of the 20th Century" cinema. The Serpentine Gallery Program is a treasure trove of TV films. "He who hopes, dies singing" and other true stories.

15 unknown short non-fiction films from 1905-1926 preserved and digitalized by the Technical College for Technology and Economics in Berlin (Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft) in co-operation with the German Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv in Berlin/Koblenz, the Cinema Museum in London, and the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. The DVD offers different ways of access: a journey through time and travel destinations on a map of Europe provide a chronological and geographical orientation for the user. In addition three thematic essays Travel, Labour and Posing for the camera show the diversity of early nonfiction and suggest three of the many ways of looking at these films. A short videofilm How moving images survived gives an introduction to film preservation and restoration.

In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of The Danish Film Institute / Archive & Cinematheque the first films donated to the Danish State are published on this DVD. The first film archive contains a total of seventy films showing Danish events and people of the period 1899-1913.

Compilation of 16 short films made between 1896 and 1948, in black and white and in colored versions, restored from original elements. Among others there are the first screen appearance of Charles Chaplin, a documentary about the original Titanic, a Russian slapstick comedy about chess players in Moscow, a parade of Hollywood stars in a short film of 1931, one of the best comedies with Charley Chase and a film with the legendary dancer Josephine Baker.

Compilation of 17 short films made between 1906 and 1941, in black and white and in colored versions, restored from original elements. Among others there are an educational film by D.W. Griffith about women and cinema, a strange comedy with Douglas Faurbands as drug addicted detective, Stan Laurel in a parody on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Duke Ellington in a famous early soundie filmed by Dudley Murphy, hand colored silents from France and Porky Pig presenting his own newsreel.

Compilation of 19 short films made between 1900 and 1941, in black and white and in colored versions, restored from original elements. Among others there are slapstick comedies with Snub Pollard, Harold Lloyd and Charley Chase, documentary footage of the original Titanic and its captain, a dancing pig, commercials made by the cartoonist Robert Lotrac, the first great western in film history THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY in a hand colored version and the only known film with legendary Django Reinhardt.