15 mins., b&w, sound – voice-over and titles in French.
Production : Société des Films Sirius.
Source : Gaumont-Pathé archive
Text : Jolly 2014, Jolly 2016
Traversée du Sahara en autochenilles, La [The Crossing of the Sahara in Half-track Vehicles] (1923) – Paul Castelnau *
49 mins., b&w, silent – French titles and intertitles.
Production : Société anonyme André Citroën.
This film covers the first Citroën crossing of the Sahara in half-track vehicles (the ‘autochenilles’ of the title, literally ‘auto-caterpillars’). This involved five vehicles which made their way from Algiers, via Touggourt, close to the Tunisian border, and then across to Timbuktu in what is now Mali. Including the return journey, the expedition lasted for three months from December 1922 to March 1923.
The expedition involved many of the same expeditionaries who would take part in the larger and better known second Citroën crossing of the Sahara that took place the following year and which is recorded in La Croisière noire(1926). The cameraman was Paul Castelnau, who was very experienced, having been an army cinematographer in the First World War as well as working on Albert Kahn’s Archives de la planète project.
La Traversée was released in 1923. The material shot by Castelnau was then re-released in 1924 as a twelve-part series intended for educational audiences under the general title, Le Continent mystérieux. This drew on footage that had not been used in the original film and some of which was ethnographic in the broadest sense.
However, Castelnau was not considered accomplished enough to be entrusted with filming the more ambitious second Citroën expedition. For this, he was replaced by Léon Poirier, who had already made his name as a feature film director.
Text : Bloom 2006
Världens Mest Användbara Trad [The Most Useful Trees in the World] (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos *
9 mins., b&w, sound – voice-over commentary and titles in Swedish.
Production : Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk Film.
This film was made in the Seychelles as a side trip from the expedition that Paul Fejos made to Madagascar in 1935. The subject of the film is the many uses to which the coconut palm may be put. Although it is beautifully shot and offers a number of idyllic scenes, there is very little on the social and cultural significance of the coconut tree and as such, it is a film of limited ethnographicness.
Text : Andersen (2017)
Bilo, The : Funeral Ceremony in Madagascar (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos
10 mins., b&w, sound – English titles and voice-over.
Production : Nordisk
Source : ?
A film about the funeral of an Antandroy chief, southern Madagascar
Våra fäders gravar [The Graves of Our Ancestors] (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos *
10:29 mins., b&w, sound – voice-over commentary and titles in Swedish.
Production : Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk
Source : ?
A film about a remote burial ground in southern Madagascar, final resting place for, amongst others, an Antandroy chief. The carved anthropomorphic images are very arresting and the commentary interesting, but not a single living person appears in the film.
The camerawork is also decidedly inferior to that of other films that Paul Fejos made in Madagascar. Is this perhaps a film that he shot himself rather than rely on Rudolf Frederiksen, the professional cameraman who was with him?
Text : Andersen (2017)
Jungle Dance {Djungeldansen} (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos *
10:19 mins., b&w, sound – Swedish titles and voice over.
Production : Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk
Source : ?
One of several films made by Paul Fejos in Madagascar.
This film shows a series of remarkable dances performed by the Bara people of southern Madagascar, contrasting these with the “miserable spectacle” of acculturated Bara and Antanosy dancing a French quadrille wearing pith helmets and fedoras, and European-style clothes.
Text : Andersen (2017)
Dance Contest in Esira {Danstävlingen i Esira} (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos
10:34 mins., b&w, sound – Swedish voice-over and titles.
Production : Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk Film
Source : ?
Film about a multi-ethnic dance competition in Esira, southern Madagascar
Stub – to be developed
Beauty Salon in the Jungle {Skönhetssalongen i djungeln} (1936) – dir. Paul Fejos *
9:40 mins., b&w, sound – Swedish narration and titles.
Production : Svensk Filmindustri and Nordisk Film
Source : ?
This is one of several short films that Paul Fejos made in Madagascar.
The opening titles identify this film as being part of a series called Svarta horisonter (literally , black horizons) but the voice-over also distinguishes the film from the kind of film made in the past in Africa, that is “exotic travelogues with clear racist connotations”. However, this is pronounced over a short sequence in which a Swedish hunter is confronted by a rhinoceros, which he shoots dead, while his African porters climb a nearby tree.
The main body of film shows the daughter of a Bara chief having her hair styled. The voice-over adopts an ironic tone, but this is more sexist than racist in that when the chief’s daughter’s hair is being twisted into shape, it suggests that like their white “sisters”, African women are prepared to suffer to achieve a beautiful hair-style. The final part of the film shows what it claims is the current hair fashion of Anastosy men.
Text : Andersen (2017)
Danses soudanaises [Dances of French Soudan] (early 1920s) – dir. J. Lejards *
2:06 mins (Baby-Pathé version), b&w, silent – French titles and intertitles
Source : Stephendelroser playlist
A reportage film that shows a short playlet involving masked dancers as performed by the Dogon of the Bandiagara Escarpment in what is now Mali, but was then still the French Soudan (hence the title of the film).
Although the interpretation of the meaning of the playlet is dubious, the film offers some interesting shots of Dogon masks, including the Hare mask, above (erroneously identified in the film as being of a ‘little monkey’).
The film-maker, J. Lejards was a Pathé cameraman who made various films in West Africa, and also later in Cambodia and Andorra. This film was clearly shot on the same occasion as Les Danses Habés, which shows the masked dancing performed at a dama, the ceremony to bring a period of mourning to an end. In the background in Danses soudanaises, one can see the kanaga masks, in the shape of a double-armed cross, that are a defining feature of the dama ceremony (see the image above).
The Stephendelroser website dates this film to 1915, but it seems very unlikely that a Pathé cameraman such as Lejards would have been making films on ethnographic topics in West Africa at the height of the First World War.
Rather more likely is that it would have been shot in the early 1920s, at the same time as Lejards was shooting a number of other films in West Africa, including La Ville de Djenné (1921). Djenné is also in what then the French Soudan, and is only about 200 kms by road from the Bandiagara Escarpment where this film was shot. Even with the transport available at the time, it is easy to imagine Lejards moving from one location to the other.
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Ville de Djenné, La [The Town of Djenné](1921) – dir. J. Lejards *
2 mins., b&w, silent, 2 mins
Production : Pathé- Baby
Source : Stephendelroser Baby-Pathé playlist on YouTube
A reportage film made by the enigmatic figure of J. Lejards, a Pathé cameraman who was active both in West Africa and Southeast Asia in the 1920s. This film is dated on the playlist to 1921, and is one of several films that are attributed to Lejards around this time.
It shows some brief glimpses of the celebrated adobe architecture of Djenné and makes the claim that the grand mosque (the largest adobe building in the world) was designed by a French colonial officer, a M. Bleu. There are also some intimate shots of Songhai and Bambara women dancing to drum music.
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