Please note that this website is still a ‘work in progress’ and that a definitive version will not be available for some time. Until then all posts should be regarded as provisional and subject to correction.
This catalogue of films is not intended to be either comprehensive or definitive. It is simply a listing of films encountered in the course of The Silent Time Machine project that were thought to be of some degree of ethnographic interest.
Particular attention was focused on early films of ethnographic interest in sub-Saharan Africa and Amazonia. Less extensive overviews of early films made in South and Southeast Asia were also conducted. But some regions were barely broached at all, while the pages assigned to other regions have yet to be populated in more than a preliminary way.
In the majority of cases, the films were viewed first-hand, though certain films have been included that were not viewed, but which were regarded as important by other authors.
Original titles are given when they are in English, French or Portuguese. Translations by the Project Author of French or Portuguese titles into English are given in square brackets, e.g. : À travers Madagascar [Across Madagascar] (1923).
Titles in other languages have been translated into English by the Project Author, with the original title being given in parentheses, e.g.: Aruanã Masked Dances {Aruanã-Maskentänze} (1962).
In general, the dates given for the films are the release dates rather than the dates of production, except in the case of footage that was never edited into a finished film, in which case the production date is given. In all cases, however, these dates should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’ since they are often very difficult to establish with certainty, particularly in the case of the earliest films.
A particular effort was made to establish where the films listed may be viewed. In many cases, this involves no more than a click on a link within the entry for the film in question.
**** regions for which there are >40 entries
*** regions for which there are >20 entries
** regions for which there are >10 entries
* regions for which there is minimal coverage
AFRICA ****
NEAR EAST, CENTRAL ASIA & RUSSIA*
SOUTH ASIA ***
SOUTHEAST ASIA ****
ARCTIC & CIRCUMPOLAR REGIONS *
NORTH AMERICA ***
CENTRAL AMERICA, CARIBBEAN, ANDES *