All Films

Billy Edwards and the Unknown

1895 • 1 min • United States of America

Former lightweight boxer Billy Edwards, now a trainer and writer of the sport, takes on a challenger named Warwick in an exhibition match. The match is scheduled for five rounds of 20 seconds each. A large crowd has gathered behind the ring to watch the fight.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

1895 • 1 min • France

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.

Animated Portrait Shot by L and A Lumière

1895 • 1 min • France

An early Kinora demonstration film.

Danse serpentine (Annabelle)

1895 • 1 min • United States of America

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.

New Blacksmith Shop

1895 • 1 min • United States of America

Four men at work in a forge. The uses hammers and and anvil to beat metal.

Princess Ali

1895 • 1 min • United States of America

Princess Ali, of Barnum and Bailey's circus, performs an Egyptian dance in the Edison Company's studio. As she dances, some musicians perform in the background to provide accompaniment.

The Derby 1895

1895 • 1 min

A stationary camera, looking diagonally across a racetrack toward the infield, records the horses as they race past. Once they are out of view and the race is over, police officers run onto the infield. The crowd moves around.

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

1895 • 1 min • United States of America

A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

The Sprinkler Sprinkled

1895 • 1 min • France

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.

Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II

1895 • 1 min

A tiny fragment of an actuality film of Tom Merry (William Mechem), a 'lightning sketch' caricaturist performing his act for the camera and producing a large profile caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The loss of the rest of the film has bequeathed us 6 seconds that are of Mechem standing next to the completed portrait and sadly, that is all there is. An early film made by Birt Acres for R.W. Paul. (see release information for further detail).

Opening of the Kiel Canal

1895 • 1 min • United Kingdom

The opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 June 1895.

The Arrest of a Bookmaker

1895 • 1 min • United Kingdom

A man strolling in a city street is attacked by three assailants. A policeman comes to the rescue and the men struggle with each other.

Incident at Clovelly Cottage

1895 • 1 min • United Kingdom

Incident at Clovelly Cottage, also known as Incident Outside Clovelly Cottage, Barnet, shot by Birt Acres and produced by Acres and his collaborator Robert W. Paul in March 1895, was the "first successful motion picture film made in Britain" Considered lost since only a few frames have survived.

Wintergartenprogramm

1895 • 7 min • Germany

On 1 November 1895, the brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky presented their pioneer film work and legendary Bioscop program in Berlin′s Wintergarten Theater. With live musical accompaniment, the compilation program included short film sequences with famous artists of the time: Italienischer Bauerntanz, Komisches Reck, Der Jongleur, Das boxende Känguruh, Kamarinskaja, Die Serpentintänzerin, Akrobatisches Potpourri, Ringkampf, and Apotheose, with the Skladanowsky brothers bowing to their audience.

Annabelle Sun Dance

1894 • 1 min

Annabelle Dances in William K.L. Dickson's 1894 short film

Wrestling Match

1894 • 2 min • United States of America

Early short film.

Trained Bears

1894 • 5 min • United States of America

Bears that are trained.

Rat Killing

1894 • 1 min • United States of America

Edison short.

Children Playing in the Garden

1894 • 1 min • Poland, Russia

A group of children is playing in the garden.

Around a Cabin

1894 • 2 min • France

The film consists of a series of animations on a beach containing two beach huts and a diving board. Two characters play at diving into the water from the diving board and then appear on the beach. The woman begins to play with a small dog and is then joined by a gentleman. The two play around on the beach before getting changed into bathing costumes and going into the water. They bob up and down in the water before swimming out of the scene. Once the couple have gone a man sails out in a boat.

Chinese Opium Den

1894 • 1 min • United States of America

Lost film from 1894, directed by William K.L. Dickson.

Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze

1894 • 1 min • United States of America

A man (Thomas Edison's assistant) takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. This is one of the earliest Thomas Edison films and was the second motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.

Indian War Council

1894 • 1 min • United States of America

This 1894 film depicts a staged “war council” featuring a group of Sioux men in traditional dress, seated in deliberation as Buffalo Bill Cody addresses them.

Skating-rink in the Royal Baths

1894 • 1 min • Poland, Russia

The film was about a group of Polish ice skaters at the slide of the Warsaw Ice Skating Society. The film was filmed using a pleograph which was an early type of the movie camera invented by Kazimierz Prószyński.