Chrysis Waking

The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk

Film historians, and survivors from the nearly 30-year struggle to bring sound to motion pictures take the audience from the early failed attempts by scientists and inventors, to the triumph of the talkies.

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Cabiria

Young Cabiria is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in Carthage. Just as she's to be sacrificed to Moloch, Cabiria is rescued by Fulvius Axilla, a good-hearted Roman spy, and his powerful slave, Maciste. The trio are broken up as Cabiria is entrusted to a woman of noble birth. With Cabiria's fate unknown, Maciste punished for his heroism, and Fulvius sent away to fight for Rome, is there any hope of our heroes reuniting?

The Last Days of Pompeii

Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi’s The Last Days of Pompeii 1926 stages in sumptuous colour tinting the epic fall of the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption. Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s love story, the film was innovative in its special effects and an early major box-office hit. A beautiful tinted restoration print was prepared using photochemical processes by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale in the mid-1990s and the premiere screening of the restoration print was held in the amphitheatre in Pompeii, followed by a screening at the major restoration festival ‘Il Cinema Ritrovato’ in Bologna in 1998.

Dingjun Mountain

The first Chinese film ever made, a sung representation of Battle of Mount Dingjun.

The Ten Commandments

The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.

The Coronation of Edward VII

King Edward VII's coronation ceremony.

A Man There Was

Terje Vigen, a sailor, suffers the loss of his family through the inflexibility of another man. Years later, when his enemy's family finds itself dependent on his benevolence, Terje must decide whether to avenge himself.

The Roman Orgy

The tyrant Emperor Heliogabalus lives a life of debauchery and set lions loose among his guests.

Ben Hur

The first adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Milord l'Arsouille

The Wandering Jew

A Jew who mocked Jesus on the cross is visited by a devil and an angel.

Beekeeper

The historical-revolutionary film by Dmitry Frolov, permeated with the romanticism of the revolutionary events of 1917, echoing the moods of August 1991. Since the film was shot the day after the victory over the coup plotters in the USSR in August 1991. All thoughts of the beekeeper - quotations from Lenin's works.

Don Carlos und Elisabeth

Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, and Princess Elisabeth of Valois are deeply in love but King Philip, Carlos's father, wants Elisabeth for himself.

The History of the Cinema

A humorously semi-factual account of the history of cinema.

A Lady Fights Back

The saga of the Normandie is recounted from her life as a luxury liner, the horrific fire that nearly destroyed her, and her resuscitation to join in the war effort. A John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short.

Joan of Arc

A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.

The First Komsomol Oil Well

Le prince de Galles

Lost film from 1902, directed by Louis Lumière and starring King Edward VII.

Marooned

Richard Parker is the lone remaining member of a Royal Observer Corps team, stationed deep underground, during an unidentified cataclysm. He spends his days battling with isolation, loneliness, fear of what waits above and his own memories.