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‘Close’ Friends

Still from Close Friends

Date produced: 1965

Filmmaker(s):

Philippa Miller

Description:

'Silent film shot by Miss Philippa Miller recording scenes of people and activities around the 1930s-style bay-fronted terraced houses and gardens in a small residential close at different seasons of the year. Miss Miller lived in Norwich so the film has provisionally been linked to Norwich, but identification of the location would be welcome. The film captures the relaxed and friendly relationship between the women, men and children filmed and Miss Miller behind the camera. From the film stock marks it appears that the film was shot between 1965 and 1967.

All but two of the scenes are filmed outdoors. Indoors we see four women sitting together looking at two boxed costume dolls and stroking a black poodle, and a brief scene of an elderly lady. The exterior scenes were filmed during winter, spring and summer and capture people's activities and domestic chores around their homes and gardens, their comings and goings, and various pet dogs. Scenes include: women clearing a path through snow; a row of ten sparrows on a ledge above a snowy roof; a man washing a car with cloth and bucket of water as laundry billows on a washing line; a woman dressed to go out in hat and coat carrying bags; children playing with a dog, a football, a toy pram and a toy tractor; a bride in white outfit with bouquet standing with a man, perhaps her father, and a woman chauffeur in peaked cap helping people into a car as they leave for a wedding; crocuses; another man washing a car; a boy on a tricycle; a knife grinder at work, operating his machine by treadle within a handcart with large wheels; a man mowing the lawn a man painting the front gate of a spring garden; a young man and woman; a man up a ladder cleaning windows; women with two children in matching coats; a house under construction with the timber frame of the upper storey and roof open; a woman hanging out sheets on a washing line; a woman shaded beneath a floral parasol standing in front of flowering rose bushes; a woman setting off on a bicycle; a woman holding a baby; children sitting on a lawn and playing with modelling clay; a young man; a woman at a window; a chaffinch; rose bushes; another lady dressed in hat and coat with bag going out; a woman playing ball with the black poodle; a man using an axe to chop at the roots in a hole around a tree stump' (EAFA).


[W.H. Tilley Collection, no. 2 - 1950s]

Date produced: 1953

Filmmaker(s):

Paul Tilley

W. Hope Tilley

Description:

"This collection of 16mm clips was originally shot and compiled in the 1950s by W.H. Tilley. Footage features images of downtown St. Louis (including St. Louis Union Station), Philadelphia's Independence Hall, 'Demolishing of Deaf School' (1956), the Texas State Capitol and Congress Avenue, Barton Springs (1953), exterior and interior views of the Tilley home (1953), the flag and Capitol building at sunrise, and sightseeing in Montreal (including parades, a carriage, and views from Mt. Royal)" Texas Archive of the Moving Image.


3er Cross Popular Vitoria-Gasteiz [3rd Popular Cross Vitoria-Gasteiz]

Date produced:

Filmmaker(s):

Eloy González Gavilán

Description:

El filme muestra una carrera en la que se observa la presencia de nieve en la calle y la carretera por donde corren los participantes. La película está editada con una entrevista y aparecen fotografías del cross popular y de los participantes. Hay una voz en off durante algunas partes de la película que narra y comenta la carrera de forma informal y con un toque de comedia. El locutor habla del pelotón como si fuese el parte de ellos y si los estuviese animando. Se muestran varias entrevistas con participantes y termina con algunos planos de la ciudad ya finalizada la carrera como la retirada de las vallas de seguridad y del polideportivo.

The film shows a race in which there is snow on the street and on the road where the participants run. The film includes an interview and overlapped images of the popular cross and the participants. An off voice narrates the race in an informal manner with a touch of comedy. The narrator talks about a platoon as if he were part of it and cheers them on. Several interviews with participants are shown and the film ends with shots of the city once the race is over, like withdrawing security fences and images of the sports center.


Acapulco—Mexican Riviera

Date produced: 1951

Filmmaker(s):

Harold Ramser

Description:

"Harold Ramser's 'Acapulco—Mexican Riviera' is a beautiful Kodachrome documentary of the colorful Mexican resort city." American Cinematographer, May 1952, 224.


Álava Deportiva [Sports in Alava]

Date produced:

Filmmaker(s):

Eloy González Gavilán

Description:

El filme comienza con una descripción de como iniciar en el Cross. Vemos un campeonato de Cross desarrollarse en los alrededores de Álava y la premiación a los ganadores. Un joven se ilusiona por ser corredor de Cross.

The film begins with a description on how to begin cross country running. Then a cross-country championship is seen developing in the surroundings of Alava, and then we see the awards ceremony for the winners. A young man is seen getting excited about becoming a cross country runner.


Álava en fiesta [Party in Álava]

Date produced: 1981

Filmmaker(s):

Eloy González Gavilán

Description:

El filme comienza con personas preparándose para la fiesta del pueblo. Gente cocina, decora, come y bebe vino. A esto siguen imágenes de una competencia de motocicletas, gente en las calles comprando largas tiras de ajo, competencias en el pueblo, arquitectura y esculturas, calles muy llenas y finalmente tomas de juegos de feria durante la noche.

The film begins with people getting ready for a party of the town. People are cooking, decorating, eating and drinking wine. There are images of a motorcycle competition, people in the streets buying large strips of garlic, competitions in the town, architecture and sculpture, very crowded streets and finally a few shots of games in a fair at night.


Amateur Film Club Visits Dachau, 1942

Date produced: 1942

Description:

"Title onscreen indicates that the footage shows an outing of the Munich amateur film club to Dachau, 1942. . . . They arrive at the station and begin filming in the residential/commercial areas of the town (NOT the camp)." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.


Amigo Enemigo [Friend Enemy]

Date produced:

Filmmaker(s):

Eloy González Gavilán

Description:

Una mujer camina por el paisaje entre ruidos. Hace fuego para calentarse un poco de comida pero un sonido la invade. Se encuentra con un soldado muerto dentro del bosque.

A woman walks through a landscape while noises are heard. She makes a fire to warm some food but a sound overcomes her. She finds a dead soldier inside the woods.


Another Day

Date produced: 1934

Filmmaker(s):

Leslie P. Thatcher

Description:

"Among the Ten Best, Another Day, by Leslie Thatcher, ACL, is a splendid example of the relatively simple avant garde film, so popular among European amateurs but so seldom attempted by even the advanced workers of the American continent. Set against the background of Toronto, Another Day portrays in semi abstract fashion the dramatic changes which overtake the life and tempo of a great city as Saturday crosses the noontime deadline from work to play. Mr. Thatcher's conception of this theme is clean cut, his execution suave and technically brilliant. Dissolves, wipeoffs and double exposure are blended intelligently with matchless straight photography to enhance the beauty of striking angles and compositions. With the subject matter of such films ready to the hand of every amateur cameraman, it is a strange phenomenon that to date they are not attempted more often." Movie Makers, Dec. 1934, 513, 534.


Aquila non caput muscas / Águilas no cazan moscas [Eagles don’t hunt flies]

Date produced: 1971

Filmmaker(s):

Alfredo Gurrola

Description:

"Se trataba del regreso de un soldado de origen mexicano a la Ciudad de México después de haber combatido en Vietnam con las tropas estadounidenses. El hombre llega a la estación del ferrocarril de Buenavista y recorre la ciudad para acabar finalmente en el departamento de su hermano. Busca trabajo y no lo encuentra. Por la voz off que sigue el hilo de sus pensamientos, nos enteramos que a su mente guerrera le cuesta trabajo adaptarse a la vida pacífica. La película intercala una serie de secuencias oníricas que de alguna manera ilustran su delirio belicista: sueña que es un soldado griego que asesina al niño que lo molesta en el taxi colectivo (un pesero) que lo conduce a casa de su hermano; imagina en el personaje que lo entrevista cuando aplica para obtener un trabajo a Napoleón Bonaparte (interpretado por Juan José Gurrola) dirigiendo una batalla; o sueña que es un caballero medieval que asesina a su familia en un pacífico día de campo. Finalmente el personaje no encuentra cabida en la sociedad pacífica y acude –todavía en traje de caballero medieval – al aeropuerto para comprar un boleto de avión "a la guerra más próxima"" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).

"It is about the comeback of a Mexican soldier to Mexico City after fighting in Vietnam along with American troops. The man arrives to the train station in Buenavista y goes around the city to end up at his brother's apartment. He looks for a job and cannot find one. The off voice, that follows his train of thought, tells us that his war mind has trouble adapting to a peaceful life. The film inserts a series of dreamlike sequences that in a way illustrate his war delirium: he dreams he is a greek soldier that murders the kid that bothers him in a collective cab that drives him to his brother's house; he imagines the character that interviews him when he is looking for a job is Napoleon Bonaparte (played by Juan José Gurrola) directing a battle: or he dreams he is a medieval knight that murders his family in a peaceful day in the country. Finally the character doesn't find a place in a peaceful society and goes –still in medieval armor– to the airport to buy a by a plane ticket to the "nearest war" " (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).


Total Pages: 14