All Recommendations
Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.
The Sprinkler Sprinkled
A gardener is watering his flowers, when a mischievous boy sneaks up behind his back, and puts a foot on the water hose. The gardener is surprised and looks into the nozzle to find out why the water has stopped coming. The boy then lifts his foot from the hose, whereby the water squirts up in the gardener's face. The gardener chases the boy, grips his ear and slaps him in his buttocks. The boy then runs away and the gardener continues his watering. Three separate versions of this film exist, this is the original, filmed by Louis Lumière.
A Trip to the Moon
Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
A brief fantasy tale involving a strange fairy who can produce and deliver babies coming out of cabbages. This film is lost or never existed. Copies of it online are actually the 1900 remake.
Eye Myth
After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Game of Cards
Three men are sitting around a table, two of them playing a game of Écarté. When the game is over, a domestic serves drinks.
The Bewitched Inn
A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.
The Dreyfus Affair
The first movie ever censored for political reasons. The title refers to the then contemporaneous Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish military officer was falsely convicted of treason, and it was alleged that he was framed due to anti-semitism.
Tokyo Train Girls: Private Lessons
New teacher Chihiro has been on the job for three months. She does her job with great enthusiasm, but she has a secret that nobody must know. As a student, she accumulated debt in order to keep up with her well-to-do friends. She can’t pay it back on the wages of a teacher so she started working part-time as a Chat-Lady. In front of a web camera that hides her face, she shakes her breasts and hips. By chance, her student, Kazuaki discovers the web site.
Ali G Before He Was Massiv
Documentary exploring comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's rise to fame through rare archive video of his early television appearances and interviews with former associates.
Pop
The train just runs. A collage of various images, including cel animation and drawing, animates smoke emitted from trains. The title comes from both the sound of a passing train and Pop Art (Yōji Kuri).
Washerwomen on the River
Women wash clothes in a washhouse on the edge of a river.
Black Beauty
Black Beauty lives with Squire Gordon and his stable girl Jenny. Squire Gordon is forced to sell Black Beauty to a cruel society lady. He is a sweet-tempered horse who through the course of his life encounters many trying experiences. He endures through his unyielding courage and faith.
Kink
Director Christina Voros and producer James Franco pull back the curtain on the fetish empire of Kink.com, the Internet's largest producer of BDSM content. In a particularly obscure corner of an industry that operates largely out of public view, Kink.com's directors and models strive for authenticity. In an enterprise often known for exploitative practices, Kink.com upholds an ironclad set of values to foster an environment that is safe, sane, and consensual.
Tribute to Eric Rohmer
Brief, fragmented memories of Rohmer spoken by Godard, while the screen shows various titles of articles Rohmer wrote for Cahiers du Cinema.
The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon
Down the gangway, photographers leave the deck of a riverboat in large numbers.
Snowball Fight
Wintertime in Lyon. About a dozen people, men and women, are having a snowball fight in the middle of a tree-lined street. The cyclist coming along the road becomes the target of opportunity. He falls off his bicycle. He's not hurt, but he rides back the way he came, as the fight continues.
Annabelle Serpentine Dance
In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of the flowing cloth. She moves to her right and left across an unadorned stage. Many of the prints were distributed in hand-tinted color.
The Kiss
They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.
Man Walking Around a Corner
The last remaining production of Le Prince's LPCC Type-16 (16-lens camera) is part of a gelatine film shot in 32 images/second, and pictures a man walking around a corner. Le Prince, who was in Leeds (UK) at that time, sent these images to his wife in New York City in a letter dated 18 August 1887.