Village Life of the Local People {Het Leven van den Inlander in de Dessa} (1912) – J.C. Lamster

8 mins., b&w (tinted in green, yellow, brown), silent (Dutch intertitles)

Production: Koloniaal Institute, Amsterdam.

Source: available on the EYE site here

One of a series of short films shot in 1912-1913 in the Dutch East Indies by J.C. Lamster that were commissioned by the Koloniaal Institute.

Despite the title, there are very few shots inside a village. The film begins with series of sequences by river (children playing, crossing a bridge, washing clothes, oxen, gathering water from mountain streams). There is then a shot of village headman meeting another local authority and going off together on horses, followed by a brief shot of feast of roast goat meat, a lemonade seller and children enjoying his wares.

Mostly shot as a series of static wide-angle shots, though in the roast goat feast, there are some cuts to wide GVs to close shot of man doing the cooking by an open fire.

© 2018 Paul Henley