Akrobatisches Potpourri

On 1 November 1895, the brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky presented their pioneer film work and legendary Bioscop program in Berlin′s Wintergarten Theater. With live musical accompaniment, the compilation program included short film sequences with famous artists of the time: Italienischer Bauerntanz, Komisches Reck, Der Jongleur, Das boxende Känguruh, Kamarinskaja, Die Serpentintänzerin, Akrobatisches Potpourri, Ringkampf, and Apotheose, with the Skladanowsky brothers bowing to their audience.

A man and a kangaroo stand up in front of each other with boxing gloves, and simulate a boxing match on a theatre stage.

The two inventors of the Bioskop, a sort of magic lantern that projected images so fast as to give the illusion of movement, bow to the camera at both sides of an empty screen. The scene was shown in continuity, at the end of the session, as if the producers and directors of the session were beading the public a farewell.

Two children, Ploetz and Larella, perform an Italian peasant dance.

A young woman is a cook in a noble house, but she reads her favorite drama "Joan of Arc" as often as she can while she works. But that's not all, she passionately enjoys slipping into the role of her heroine.

Filmed in 1896, this actuality captures everyday life at Alexanderplatz, one of Berlin’s central squares. The camera records crowds of pedestrians crossing the square, streetcars passing through, and horse-drawn vehicles navigating the busy traffic. The film presents a vivid snapshot of Berlin’s modern urban rhythm at the close of the 19th century.

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.