While we Americans are making an attempt to choose our nation’s leaders and a great number of us watch the coverage like some sort of twisted sporting event, Australians are in the midst of the Melbourne Cup, the “greatest day on the Australian sporting and social calendar” (at least according to the Cup’s website). What is the Melbourne Cup? Imagine the Kentucky Derby, move it to Melbourne, and create a holiday in the entire state of Victoria and even the Australian Capitol Territory. Starting back in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is a thoroughbred handicap horserace unlike any other in the world.
Now, you may be asking yourself, why are we talking about a silly horse race? Well, it turns out that very recently, some footage has been rediscovered in a French archive showing crowds and horses with their jockeys from back in 1896. This discovery has been a big deal to Australian film buffs and researchers alike, since surviving silent Australian films are incredibly rare. Originally shot by Marius Sestier for the Lumiere brothers (yes, those Lumiere brothers), this 60 second print is part of larger collection of possibly fifteen films shot at the 1896 Cup, but it is only the seventh film to actually be uncovered. While this may not be the most earth-shattering discovery, it does make one wonder what else may one day turn up in a far-flung archive some day. This isn’t the first time that an Australian film has been found in Europe; earlier this year, one of Australia’s oldest surviving sound films (from 1927) was “repatriated” from a British archive. Who knows what other Australian films are out there, waiting to be discovered?
More on the Melbourne Cup here.
The story about the film can be found here.
Image via Google Images.
Now, you may be asking yourself, why are we talking about a silly horse race? Well, it turns out that very recently, some footage has been rediscovered in a French archive showing crowds and horses with their jockeys from back in 1896. This discovery has been a big deal to Australian film buffs and researchers alike, since surviving silent Australian films are incredibly rare. Originally shot by Marius Sestier for the Lumiere brothers (yes, those Lumiere brothers), this 60 second print is part of larger collection of possibly fifteen films shot at the 1896 Cup, but it is only the seventh film to actually be uncovered. While this may not be the most earth-shattering discovery, it does make one wonder what else may one day turn up in a far-flung archive some day. This isn’t the first time that an Australian film has been found in Europe; earlier this year, one of Australia’s oldest surviving sound films (from 1927) was “repatriated” from a British archive. Who knows what other Australian films are out there, waiting to be discovered?
More on the Melbourne Cup here.
The story about the film can be found here.
Image via Google Images.
No comments:
Post a Comment