Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour • Presented by Archives on Screen

The Brilliant Biograph

Introduction by Maggie Hennefeld

Friday, February 14 • 6:30pm • Tickets: FREE

Overview

This compilation features beautiful fragments of silent films from the earliest years of cinema. The Mutoscope and Biograph Collection includes over 200 films, most of which were made in Europe between 1897 and 1902. Filmed on 68mm stock, they have been digitized in 8k to preserve their vivid quality and luminous brilliance, which rival today’s IMAX projection. The program you will see has been arranged into five thematic sections. As an abstract collage, it evokes vital aspects of turn-of-the-century life, such as urban hustle, technological innovation, industrial labor, interspecies horseplay, and vaudeville theatre and performances. The special piano score, composed and recorded by Daan van den Hurk, brings these visions from the past back to life for today. 

Eye Program notes

A marvelous compilation film of rare high resolution images from Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Venice from 120 years ago.

The Mutoscope and Biograph Collection is the oldest film collection held at Eye Filmmuseum. It includes over 200 films, most of which were made in Europe between 1897 and 1902. This collection constitutes the largest existing archive  of surviving Mutoscope and Biograph films in the world.

These films are all photographed with the unique large-format 68mm Mutograph camera, which provided extraordinarily high-resolution images. These one-minute time capsules from 120 years ago still convey some of the richest and sharpest images that film can achieve.

Let yourself be carried away in the mesmerizing events and celebrities of the time, and feel the enthusiasm of early cinema that overcame the challenge of capturing life-like movement.

The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe (1897-1902) is the winner of the FOCAL Award 2021 in the category: "Best Archival Restoration and Preservation Project."

Watch the making of on the Eye’s YouTube channel.

The wonders of the Biograph Projector

"Amid the welter of projectors with extravagant names that competed for the public’s attention in the very first years of cinema, the Biograph had established itself as a product above the others, with a sharper, steadier, and far larger screen image than any of its competitors, a true source of wonder in all who saw it. The key to this success was the unperforated film of approximately 70mm width that the Biograph projector used, coupled with its choice of international subjects, and a policy of select and classy presentation, with the company controlling all exhibitions that used this unique system."

Two decades later, these lines by Luke McKernan from the 2000 Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue for The Wonders of the Biograph remain relevant when discussing the new compilation The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest moving images of Europe (1897-1902).

A grant from the European Commission’s "European Tribute to Film Heritage" programme has enabled the high-quality digitization of 50 selected films from the collections of Eye and the British Film Institute.

The Mutoscope and Biograph Collection

The American Mutoscope Company, founded in 1896, initially intended to focus on making flip-card viewing cabinets for individual use. However, it soon expanded its scope to the public projection of films shot with the Biograph camera. The company expanded into Europe in 1897, with branches in Great Britain (British Mutoscope and Biograph Syndicate), the Netherlands (Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij), Germany (Deutsche Mutoskop und Biograph), and France (Biograph and Mutoscope Company for France).

The Mutoscope and Biograph Collection contains the oldest films held at Eye Filmmuseum. It includes over 200 films on the original 68mm stock, shot between 1897 and 1902. This constitutes the largest existing collection of 68mm Mutoscope and Biograph films surviving in the world; the only other holdings are at the British Film Institute in London and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

About the compilation

The compilation is divided into five thematically arranged chapters, connected by images of train rides, that take viewers on a tour across Europe (both in space and time).

The selection is not based on historical or geographical accuracy. Instead, the films are put together in an abstract collage to evoke various prominent aspects of turn-of-the-century life, such as urbanization, recreation, tourism, technological innovation, and vaudeville theatre and performances. The special piano score, composed and recorded by Daan van den Hurk, holds the compilation together.

Restoration

Digital technology today allows us to digitally copy the 68mm material through 8K digitization. The original system lacked the now standard perforations that drive film through the projector, which resulted in visible wear and tear. This issue has been addressed during the digital restoration process, although not all marks have been removed, as they are inherent to the technology.

The Brilliant Biograph is an attempt to reproduce the grandeur and brilliance of the original Mutoscope and Biograph films through 8K digitization and 4K DCP projection.

–Elif Rongen-Kaynakci for The Giornate del Cinema Muto 2020