Desmet Collection: Ladies first!

Le Acque miracolose (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1914, 9’)
Fleurs des champs (1912, 3’)
Anna Karenina (Maurice André Maître, 1911, 10’)
Das Geheimschloss (1914, 54’)
A Lady and Her Maid (Bert Angeles, 1913, 13’) 

DCP, b&w
English intertitles with Turkish subtitles

Contrary to what we might think today, looking at female underrepresentation in cinema, women formed an essential part of the early film industry. Not only were many executive women (directors, scriptwriters and producers), but also, the women portrayed on screen were daring and modern characters (often echoing the real life of the actresses who incarnated them). Many films revolved around a female character undertaking unusual and daring activities, like Miss Clever (Danish actress Ellen Jensen-Eck) in Das Geheimschloss, who helps the police to catch the crooks, doing fearless stunts and uncanny disguises. Initially, only famous dramatic parts were assigned to already renowned actresses of the stage (like Sarah Bernhardt, or Madam Soroktina as Anna Karenina in this program, adapted from Tolstoy’s famous novel and released one year after the author’s death).

The program consists of five films from the Desmet Collection. The compilation is built to resemble the common practice of the early 1910s theatre-going experience, starting with a comedy, followed by short fiction or non-fiction films, and a feature, often finishing again with a short comedy.