CENTO ANNI FA: I FILM DEL 1905, PROGRAMMA N. 7: UNA CASA DI PRODUCTIONE: A.–F. PARNALAND (1896–1907)

Baño de colegiales / Saut du tremplin (FR 1897-1899), Parnaland. My screenshot from the YouTube channel of Filmoteca Española.

A cura di Mariann Lewinsky.
Presenta Camille Blot-Wellens.
Selezione di film restaurati dalla Filmoteca Española, dalla Filmoteca de la Generalitat de Catalunya e dalla Lobster Films.
♪ Marco Dalpane.
Friday 8 July 2005, Cinéma Lumière 1, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna.

Prima parte: Film Parnaland provenienti dalla Filmoteca Española (Madrid) (25 films),

Seconda parte: Film Parnaland provenienti dalla Filmoteca de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Barcelona) (2 films),

Terza parte: Film Parnaland provenienti da Lobster Films (Paris) (5 films).

(Three further films mentioned in the programme catalogue were not screened.)

From the presentation of Camille Blot-Wellens: Ambroise-François Parnaland, one of the pioneers of animated photography, registered his patent in February 1896, and presented his first "filmed views" in 1897.

From the foundation of his first company with his brother until the premises became the Eclair company in 1907, Parnaland made more than 500 films of all genres: "actualities, historical, scientific, comedies, films to run backwards, transformations, trick films, etc." (Parnaland Catalogue, 1901). The in-depth history of the company has been published by Laurent Mannoni. The history of the Eclair company is well-known, but the Anciens Etablissements Parnaland and the films made there are almost completely unknown. Among the hundreds of films acquired 1897–1906 by Sagarmínaga, one of Spain's cinema pioneers, whose collection is being restored by Filmoteca Española, are some 30 Parnaland films.

In Bologna around 40 films, nearly all Parnaland titles recovered so far, were shown.