1. Amazon: Longest River in the World (Amazonas, Maior Rio do Mundo)
Documentary by Portuguese Silvino Santos, about the Amazon, its flora, fauna, its inhabitants and among other wonderful images from the beginning of the 20th century with alternating close-up shots of caimans, jaguars and tropical flora with footage of Indigenous rituals--including some of the earliest known moving images of the Indigenous Witoto people--and longer sequences showcasing the region’s extractive industries: rubber, the Brazil nut, timber, fishing, even the egret feathers that were a staple of women’s fashion at the time.
2. The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat)
Likely in June 1897, a group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
It has an average vote of 7.108 on TMDB.
3. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin, die Symphonie der Großstadt)
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.
It has an average vote of 7.496 on TMDB.
4. Railway Station (Dworzec)
Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
5. Speechless: The Polar Realm
Beautifully filmed by New Zealand nature photographer Richard Sidey over the past decade around the polar regions, Speechless: The Polar Realm is a visual meditation of light, life, loss and wonder at the ends of the globe. This is the second film in Sidey’s non-verbal trilogy which is comprised of: - Landscapes at the World’s Ends - Speechless: The Polar Realm - Elementa
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
6. Tonto-tour (Tonto-tour)
A series of visual paradoxes between the names of the streets of Madrid and those of the shops located in them.
7. Cavalcade of Dance
Ballroom dancers Veloz and Yolanda perform the various dance fads of the first half of the twentieth century.
It has an average vote of 5.2 on TMDB.
8. India-Nepal (India-Nepal)
A nervous, careless recording of a trip through India and Nepal at the beginning of the 1970s. Fleeting impressions of faces, landscapes, temples, people and things. Images that, having been captured in a ephemeral medium, proceed to fade away , alongside the river of time.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
9. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Documentary footage of the author and his two daughters at home.
10. Monica in the South Seas (Monica in the South Seas)
Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.
11. 9/11: 10 Years Later
This unprecedented and exclusive insider's account by filmmaker James Hanlon and Gedeon and Jules Naudet of the World TradeCenter attack, which contains the only known footage of the first plane striking the World Trade Center and the only footage from inside Ground Zero during the attacks, will also include footage from events marking the 10th anniversary, as well as new interviews with many of the firefighters who were featured in the original program. They will discuss how their lives, families and the world have changed in the 10 years since the tragedy - some for better, some for worse. Viewers will also hear from New York City Fire Department health officials as they discuss some of the health issues that have plagued firefighters working at Ground Zero.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
12. Renard et lapins (Renard et lapins)
(Renard et lapins)
13. Lumiere's First Picture Shows
An overview of the works of French film pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière from 1895 to 1897.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
14. The Celebration of Saint George (Прослава на Ѓурѓовден)
Early Balkan footage.
It has an average vote of 4.7 on TMDB.
15. The Defilee of Army Orchestra, Carriages and Horsemen (Дефиле на воен оркестар, кочии и коњаници)
Early Balkan footage.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
16. Chronos
Carefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.
It has an average vote of 7.48 on TMDB.
17. Roving Mars
Join the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity for an awe-inspiring journey to the surface of the mysterious red planet.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
18. Dolphins
From the banks of the Bahamas to the seas of Argentina, we go underwater to meet dolphins. Two scientists who study dolphin communication and behaviour lead us on encounters in the wild. Featuring the music of Sting. Nominated for an Academy Award®, Best Documentary, Short Subject, 2000.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
19. Hansa (Hansa)
Footage of the German airship Hansa over Copenhagen.
20. The New Apartment (Die neue Wohnung)
A commissioned film for Schweizerischer Werkbund , Die neue Wohnung was produced for the Basel architectural and interior design exhibition, WOBA, to demonstrate innovative aspects of modern architecture and highlight their differences from the event’s highly conservative approach. Despite its ad campaign roots, Richter's touch is not absent; The surviving version, aimed at a "bourgeois" Swiss public, presents decluttered, functional architecture and decor as superior to the traditional and luxurious "ancient" ways of living.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
