Helsinki Book Fair, 23-26 Oct 2025

Helsinki Book Fair 2025. President Alexander Stubb at the Senaatintori stage discusses his book The Triangle of Power. Photo: Helsingin Kirjamessut.

The Helsinki Book Fair at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre was held over four days on 23-26 October 2025. It is the largest literary event in the Nordic countries in terms of visitor count. There were a record 104,516 visits to the fair, plus 15.000 online viewings. There were 1.000 programmes across 17 stages, with nearly 1,700 performers. The visitor count was 7% higher than last year.

Some of my experiences:

THURSDAY 23 OCT 2025

13.00  LONNA

Martti Anhava, Kari Hotakainen / Touko Siltala

Anton Chekhov / Anton Tšehov: Onni: valitut novellit 1880-1903 [Happiness: Selected Short Stories 1880-1903]. 1100 pp. Edited and translated by Martti Anhava. Hard cover. Helsinki: Siltala & Sanavalinta, 2025.

A literary highlight of the year is the publication of the largest ever Finnish edition of Anton Chekhov's short stories. The translator is our Chekhov maestro himself, Martti Anhava, who has also published a three-volume set of Chekhov's letters with excellent commentaries, a selection from Chekhov's notebooks, and a translation of the four great plays. According to my estimate, Chekhov wrote 605 short stories (according to Anhava, 580), of which a third have been translated into Finnish. Many stories even from his golden years 1888-1903 have never been translated. In this weighty tome there are 52 stories, of which 21 for the first time in a Finnish Chekhov collection. Intriguingly, also selections of the very earliest writings are included, such as his piece Number 2 "What is most often found in novels, stories, etc.?" (1880). I would instantly start to carry this book with me for tram reading, but the unwieldy size makes it impossible. I object to the current Finnish trend to publish as single volumes books that would require two or three. They may look grand, but they are not meant for readers.

13.30 LONNA

Lauri Timonen / Mia Öhman

Lauri Timonen: John Ford I - vuodet 1894-1949 [John Ford I - the Years 1894-1949]. 668 pp. Soft cover. Helsinki: Rosebud, 2025.

Lauri Timonen: John Ford II - vuodet 1894-1949 [John Ford I - the Years 1894-1949]. Pp. 669-1441. Soft cover. Helsinki: Rosebud, 2025.

The miracle man among Finnish film historians is Lauri Timonen. He followed Peter von Bagh as the editor-in-chief of Filmihullu magazine which has kept him busy. But his even more prominent film writing career has emerged in monographs of great artists. There is a book on Jean Seberg, but the main continuity is in ambitious trilogies. What I call his "Finnish trilogy" consists of volumes on Aki Kaurismäki, Matti Pellonpää and Matti Ijäs. He himself calls his "European trilogy" the mighty books on Fassbinder, Fellini and Bresson. His 900-page Bresson book might be the most comprehensive in any language. This year Timonen has published two huge volumes (totalling 1441 pages) about John Ford. There is a formidable legacy of books about John Ford, and Timonen seems to know them all. His books might be the most extensive study of Ford's films, which is saying a lot. I like his touch. He knows the subject well but pursues an easy-going drive.

15.00 SUOMENLINNA

Ilkka Taipale / Antti Rinne, in the presence of Kalevi Suomela and the Mechelin family.

Leo Mechelin (1839-1914): Kootut teokset / Samlade arbeten 1-9 [Collected Works 1-9]. Edited by Raimo Savolainen. Chairman of the Mechelin Foundation: Ilkka Taipale. Vice-chair of the Mechelin Foundation: Kalevi Suomela. Hard cover. Helsinki: Rosebud, 2025.

Leo Mechelin (1839-1914) was a great statesman whose contribution was crucial in the Finnish fight for its autonomy and the defense of the rule of law in the process that finally led to independence. He was also active in the international peace movement. He was a long term Senator. In the Estates, he first represented the bourgeoisie, then the nobility, and since 1906 in the first Parliament he represented the Swedish People's Party of Finland. He was what we would now call the prime minister in the "Mechelin senate" of 1905-1908 that achieved the first democratic parliamentary election of the country, complete with full political rights for women and the first female members of parliament in the world. In 1910 he received the most votes in the parliamentary election. He was a major international peacemonger and participated in the 18th Universal Peace Congress in Stockholm in 1910 and the 19th Congress in Geneva in 1912.

I participated in the event because of Ilkka Taipale (born in 1942) whose newest book, Sinisilmäinen pasifisti: kirjoituksia seitsemältä vuosikymmeneltä [Blue-Eyed Pacifist: Writings from Seven Decades] (Rosebud Books, 2024, edited by Kalevi Kalemaa) was supposed to be discussed in this event according to the original schedule. This was a precaution since it had not been confirmed that the Mechelin volumes would be ready in time, but they were indeed. Taipale is a hero of the same stature as Mechelin, a visionary behind the Finnish welfare miracle since the early 1960s. A book edited by him, 100 sosiaalista innovaatiota Suomesta: kuinka Suomesta tuli Suomi [100 Social Innovations from Finland: How Finland Became Finland] (Into, 2006 / 2017) is one of my greatest favourites. It is not just a list of those innovations. There is a vision much more profound about how all those innovations intersect to create a happy society. The book is both pragmatic and idealistic. It is also well written. A book worth rereading especially now.

Ilkka Taipale: Sinisilmäinen pasifisti: kirjoituksia seitsemältä vuosikymmeneltä [A Blue-Eyed Pacifist: Writings from Seven Decades]. 240 pp. Edited by Kalevi Kalemaa. Helsinki: Rosebud Books, 2024.

Ilkka Taipale: Sata innovaatiota Suomesta: kuinka Suomesta tuli Suomi [A Hundred Innovations from Finland: How Finland Became Finland]. 350 pp. Helsinki: Into 2006 / 2017.

16.00 SENAATINTORI

Neil Hardwick / Sanna Kangasniemi

Neil Hardwick: Poistetut kohtaukset: muistelmat [Scenes Deleted: Memoirs]. Translated from the English original by Tero Valkonen. 222 pp. Helsinki: WSOY 2025.

Neil Hardwick is a living legend and a grand old man of Finnish television, also a beloved theater director and a director of one of the rare Finnish film musicals Jos rakastat. The director, playwright and actor is a true innovator in Finnish comedy and drama known for his wit and sense of humour but also with an access to darkness. Series such as Tankki täyteen, Parempi myöhään, Reinikainen, Sisko ja sen veli, Musta tuntuu, Niilin lähteillä, Kieli poskessa, Nyhjää tyhjästä and Pakanamaan kartta are household names in Finland. Their names are untranslatable because they are wordplays based on the Finnish language. Reinikainen even minted a new expression, "malli Reinikainen" ("model Reinikainen") about a people's police officer, inviting trust that can help justice. The opposite of Dirty Harry. The British nuclear physicist moved to Finland in 1969 because of love. The foreigner had an uncanny talent to understand the Finnish idiom in a new way. He was already established in television when Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986) opened a new well of creativity in his work. His new book is a wistful memory journey. Hardwick does not bore us with thoroughness but inspires the reader with keywords.

17.00 SENAATINTORI

Hannu Harju, Kai Häggman / Mika Myllyaho

Hannu Harju: Jouko Turkka - narri, nero, nöyryyttäjä [Jouko Turkka - Fool, Genius, Humiliater]. 450 pp. Helsinki: Siltala, 2025.

Kai Häggman: Pahansisuinen - Jouko Turkan elämä [Bad-Tempered - the Life of Jouko Turkka]. 282 pp.  Helsinki: Tammi, 2025.

Jouko Turkka (1942-2016) was a visionary, demon talent, agent provocateur and enfant terrible in Finnish culture. He was even dubbed the "valtakunnansaatana" ["the Satan of the Nation"]. As a teacher and director he started with physical exercise, even in its extreme form, and his sadism hurt young and sensitive actors for life. A contemporary parallel in international culture might be Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Turkka's method was to start with conflict, sometimes against the theatre board or the city hall, sometimes zeroing in on the most vulnerable member of the cast. The outrage electrified the production to a new level. There was no room for indifference. Jouko Turkka was no stranger to controversy: he thrived in it and withered without it. He created unforgettable productions at the theatre, as professor of the Theatre Academy, on television and in the radio, he wrote books and plays. His unique short pieces called Aiheita [Motifs] enjoy perennial esteem. The first Jouko Turkka biography was written during his lifetime, but this year the first books of his entire life have been published. In the wake of Me Too, Turkka has been in renewed spotlight, not because of sexual harassment, but cowardly bullying of the young and vulnerable. The Janus-faced Turkka was also a true intellectual, fascinating in debate and dialogue.

FRIDAY 24 OCT 2025

15.00 ESPLANADI

Jorma Sairanen, Kalle Kinnunen / Susanne Päivärinta.

Jorma Sairanen & Kalle Kinnunen. Daddy Cool - viimeinen luku. Televisiovaikuttajan lopulliset muistelmat [Daddy Cool - the Last Chapter. The Final Memoirs of the Television Executive]. 352 pp. Helsinki: Teos 2025.

Jorma Sairanen the television executive emeritus has a privileged insight in the golden age of linear television in Finland. Until 1986 the only nationwide television channels belonged to the public broadcasting company Yle / Finnish Broadcasting Company. The Finnish MTV / Mainos-TV [Advertising TV / Commercial TV] shared the broadcast stream in a symbiosis until they started a channel of their own in 1993. During the transition, in 1986, Kolmoskanava (TV3) had been established in a partnership of Yle, MTV and Nokia. In 1993, it merged with MTV. In 1997, another commercial channel, Nelonen [Channel Four of Finland] was launched. Jorma Sairanen had executive positions in all these commercial channels during 1986-2014, involved in program planning, greenlighting major acquisitions and co-financing a hundred motion pictures. Before Me Too in the first edition of Daddy Cool in 2017 Sairanen was a pioneer in revealing the sexual harassment conducted by Spede Pasanen (1930-2001), the biggest name in Finnish entertainment and a holy cow of the Finnish MTV. Sairanen now tells about the hate mail he received. It is important to be aware of this culture of impunity, because it explains why most of the Me Too stories remain untold. There are no new revelations from this alley in the new book, a third of which is new material. The most rewarding are Sairanen's assessments of the new media culture. He retired at the apex of linear tv. We now live in the turbulence of streaming and the internet. Sairanen also offers a frank opinion of the condition of moving images in Finland. New to the book is a list of 15 top names in contemporary Finnish television and cinema. - The standard of the moderators Helsinki Book Fair is high. My favourite is Susanne Päivärinta, an experienced television moderator, now a member of the parliament, in which she also works in key committees. She is also a member of the board of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation.

SATURDAY 25 OCT 2025

11.30 FISKEHAMNEN

Anna-Lena Laurén / Yukiko Duke

Anna-Lena Laurén: Medan kriget pågår finns ingen försoning [There is No Reconciliation While the War Goes On]. 200 pp. Helsingfors: Förlaget, 2025.

Anna-Lena Laurén is my favourite journalist in Finland. Her media include Hufvudstadsbladet, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Suomen Kuvalehti, and she has also worked for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. From 2006 until 2023 she was mostly stationed in Russia. When her visa was not renewed, she moved to Ukraine, and the year after to Berlin to take better care of her little daughter. She has written major books about Russia and Ukraine. Medan kriget pågår finns ingen försoning is her seventh book.

When Russia is on warpath, insider knowledge and information is even more important than in peacetime. Know well the one you are dealing with, in peacetime and even more importantly in wartime. This is a lesson we are ignoring. Hate takes away 80% of our wit, hate speech spreads stupidity even more, and "social media" is the nadir. Fatal mistakes happen because of ignorance (see Afghanistan, Iraq... the list goes on).

Writers such as Anna-Lena Laurén are priceless treasures.

14.00 BLÅBÄRSLANDET

Karin Helander / Pekka Heino

Karin Helander: Bergman bakom kulisserna: Ingmar Bergmans samarbeten på teatern [Bergman Behind the Scenes: Ingmar Bergman's Collaborations at the Theatre]. 352 pp. Hard cover. Stockholm: Appell förlag 2025.

Karin Helander, professor emerita in theatre studies at the University of Stockholm, approaches Ingmar Bergman's theatre work from a new angle: not as an achievement of a single genius but as collective work with art directors, actors, playwrights, translators, script editors, costume designers and technical engineers. The book, with illustrations from rehearsals and performances, is based on correspondence between collaborators but also with politicians, journalists and life partners such as Ellen Lundström, Käbi Laretei and Liv Ullmann. The letters are often dramatic in their own right. Bergman's arbetsböcker (workbooks) and interviews are sourced. We begin to understand a work mode based on paradoxes: authority and collaboration, discipline and playfulness, temperament and patient listening. Power play is a driving force, an interest in theatre politics is alive, and an interchange between theater and the cinema is a foundation for the art of direction. (From the Appell website).

16.00 TÖÖLÖ

Suomen Kirjailijaliitto: Suuri seksikeskustelu: miten kirjoittaa kiihottavasti? [The Great Sex Discussion: How to Write and Excite?]

Terhi Tarkiainen, Juri Nummelin / Salla Simukka.

Terhi Tarkiainen: Pidä mut [Keep Me]. 368 pp. Helsinki: Tammi.

Juri Nummelin: Kiiman kutsuhuuto: suomalaisen eroottisen ja pornografisen kirjallisuuden historia [The Mating Call: the History of Finnish Erotic and Pornographic Literature]. 313 pp. Espoo: Oppian, 2024

In the discussion about sex in (Finnish) literature I learned that the playing field has totally changed during the last 15 years. Taboos are broken, genres are transgressed, and female agency is increasing. Romance, fantasy, horror and science fiction are among the genres in which explicit sexuality is on the rise, and the books are very popular. Terhi Tarkiainen is an excellent example of this contemporary trend.

I keep thinking that this change happens during a period in which people are engaging in sex less than ever during my lifetime. Perhaps not independently from this people are having less and less babies. I wonder if the rise of literary sex is a part of the transition from the real to the virtual.

I would like to write at length about Juri Nummelin, but I would need several blog entries to even start covering his achievements. He has published more books than anyone in Finland. He is a serious film connoisseur. He goes against the grain. More about him later!

16.30 SUOMENLINNA

Erkki Tuomioja / Unto Hämäläinen

Erkki Tuomioja: Eino ja Mauno Pekkala: sosialidemokratian ja kommunismin välissä [Eino and Mauno Pekkala: Between Social Democracy and Communism]. 340 pp. Helsinki: Siltala, 2025

Erkki Tuomioja belongs to the cadre of Finnish politicians who can be ranked as statesmen. He is also busy as a writer, with pamphlets, weighty historical tomes and a comprehensive series of political diaries. The double biography of the brothers Eino and Mauno Pekkala belongs to his important works of Finnish political history, starting from the imperial years and culminating at the beginning of the Cold War. The world changed violently, as did Finland. In the Social Democratic Party the brothers refused to join the Civil War. They were left of center but kept a margin to Communists. During WWII they belonged to the Peace Opposition, against Finland Waffenbrüderschaft with Hitler. That is why they were in demand after the war, Mauno Pekkala as prime minister and Eino Pekkala as minister of justice. In 1927 Eino Pekkala had been kidnapped  from a meeting of the Commission of the Constitution (!) by extreme right vigilantes of the Lapua Movement. After the downfall of Nazism, Eino Pekkala did not pursue revenge but justice. The brothers were always defenders of the rule of law. Erkki Tuomioja has written a book in which reality is more thrilling than fiction.

17.00 SUOMENLINNA

Tuomas Hoppu / Juha Kanerva

Tuomas Hoppu: Hugo Salmela: vallankumouksen sanansaattaja [Hugo Salmela: a Harbinger of Revolution]. 276 pp. Tampere: Vastapaino, 2025.

Tuomas Hoppu is a distinguished historian who has written remarkable books about Finnish wars, including the little-known contribution of Finns to the First World War. Together with Pertti Haapala he has edited Sisällissodan pikkujättiläinen, a compact giant about the Finnish Civil War in 1918, one of my favourite books. Its approach to the extremely complex subject is magisterial. It is even a lesson of lucidity in complexity.

Now Hoppu has written the first biography of Hugo Salmela (1884-1918) who became the commander of the northern front of the Red Guard in the Civil War. He led the exceptionally ferocious defense of Tampere and was accidentally killed in an explosion before the end of the war.

Hoppu goes beyond cliches and stereotypes. Even in wartime people are more than the sum of their contradictions. Salmela was a man of culture, a successful man of the theatre and an activist in the trade union movement. He was a rebel for freedom and justice with no military training, but history pushed him to the frontline of the bloodiest front of the bloody Finnish Civil War. 

As I stumbled upon Panu Rajala, the authority and biographer of the great man of letters Mika Waltari (1908-1979), he gave me the yearbook of the Mika Waltari Society called Illusioni, after Waltari's breakthrough novel The Grand Illusion. At 220 pages, and 26 contributors, it is a rich survey into culture and history through the common protagonist. Themes include Egyptology, religion, France, Nazi Germany, Soviet espionage, horror, and Waltari's attitude to the cultural radicalism of the 1960s. Exemplary.

18.00 HAKANIEMI

Antti Blåfield, Erja-Outi Heino, Toni Stenström

Antti Blåfield & Erja-Outi Heino: Puola on samaa maata [untranslatable; "Poland Is a Country of Its Own"]. 270 pp. Helsinki: Siltala, 2025.

Toni Stenström: Puola ja Suomi: yhteistyön historia [Poland and Finland: History of Collaboration]. 346 pp. Helsinki: Rosebud Books, 2025.

The parallel histories and experiences of Poland and Finland are the subject of two new books by Antti Blåfield & Erja-Outi Heino and Toni Stenström. Our geopolitical destinies have been different, based on different setups with key countries such as Germany and Russia. In the 1930s Poland belonged to the authoritarian zone, while Finland kept its democracy. WWII was incalculably more devastating for Poland, as well as its aftermath as a buffer zone in the Cold War. After the Cold War Poland has flourished but has been at times closer to authoritarianism again. During all these periods, Polish culture, including the cinema, has been highly appreciated in Finland. Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski and many others have been feted and welcomed. The authors of the new books provide a foundation for more profound understanding of Poland from the Finnish viewpoint.

SUNDAY 26 OCT 2025

12.00 KRUUNUNHAKA

SUOMEN KUVALEHTI: MILLOIN SIVISTYKSESTÄ TULI TAAKKA? [untranslatable: "When Did Bildung Become a Burden?"]

Arto O. Salonen, Johanna Vuorelma / Matti Kalliokoski

Helmi Jyrkkänen, Janne Kotiaho, Kyösti Ylikulju & Sanna Karkulehto: Sivistyksen vuoksi [untranslatable]. Contributors: Ilkka Niiniluoto, Tarja Halonen, M. A. Numminen, Jari Ojala, Arto O. Salonen, Ilona Herlin, Seela Sella, Jarkko Martikainen, Iikka Kivi, Sanna Karkulehto, Tiina Parviainen, Sami Kolamo, Anni Vuohijoki, Kari Silvola, Quivine Ndomo, Johanna Vuorelma, Kirsi Piha, Janne Riiheläinen, Tuija Saresma, Juha Hurme, Oras Tynkkynen, Julia Thurén, Sixten Korkman, Jussi Jäppinen, Kaj Nyman, Piia Viitanen, Yrjö Sepänmaa, Kaarlo Hildén, Hannu L. T. Heikkinen, Liia-Maria Raippalinna, Kerttu Kotakorpi ja Anni Sinnemäki. 304 pp. Helsinki: Into, 2025.

Writing in English, I register that the keyword does not exist in English. Sivistys in Finnish is Bildung in German. In English the German word is also used, also in the expression Bildungsroman. A semantic question and a philosophical question. The excellent first chapter of the book is by the senior philosopher Ilkka Niiniluoto who covers a lot of ground, including Cicero, Turgot, Humboldt and the great Finn J. V. Snellman. 

Whatever Bildung is, its must be constantly revived and reinvented. Arto O. Salonen stressed the responsibility of the limits of the planet based on the Aristotelian ideal of the golden mean. Johanna Vuorelma commented the topical over-emphasis on polarization. From a Finnish perspective, we have endured much more polarized times before. We can handle the current situation also.

I have been worrying about the downfall of culture in recent years. After the Helsinki Book Fair I am less worried. I did not feel polarization but discovered passion for the sake of culture emerging from different social orientations. I was happy to register many children and young people enthusiastic about the programme.

As for the question of this debate: Bildung should never be a burden. A war on culture and education is suicidal for a great nation, and even more so for a small nation. The nation of Finland was born as a culture project by J. V. Snellman and his contemporaries. The project was enthusiastically embraced by everybody. It was not an elitist project, on the contrary, it was a celebration of the creative talent of the people. I endorse the slogan of Juhana Vartiainen for the Helsinki Festival: "elitism belongs to everybody".

L'ombra (1923) (2023 digital restoration based on a 2006 photochemical restoration / Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin & Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique)

Mario Almirante: L'ombra (IT 1923).

Mario Almirante: L'ombra (IT 1923). "Berta: Non guardate Voi padrino! Sono cose che non vi interessano." Don't look, Godfather! These matters so not concern you. Alberto Collo, Italia Almirante Manzini, Vittorio Pieri. Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze. Photo: Alba Film. Photo: Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino - Fototeca .

Mario Almirante: L'ombra (IT 1923). Paralyzed. "Berta: Gerardo io non sono più che un ombra nella tua vita... ". I am no more than a shadow in your life. Alberto Collo, Italia Almirante Manzini. Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze. Photo: Cinematek / Cinémethèque royale de Belgique, Bruxelles.

Mario Almirante: L'ombra (IT 1923). "La guarigione improvvisa. Berta: Dottore! Mi sembra di essere alta... alta... Ho il capogiro! Ho paura!". The sudden recovery. Domenico Marventi, Italia Almirante Manzini.Ed. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze. Photo: Cinematek / Cinémethèque royale de Belgique, Bruxelles.

L’Ombre / De Schaduw / [The Shadow].

    IT 1923 prod: Alba Film, Torino. dir: Mario Almirante. scen: Mario Almirante, from the play by Dario Niccodemi (Milano, Teatro Alessandro Manzoni, 11.3.1915). photog: Ubaldo Arata. 

    Cast: Italia Almirante Manzini (Berta Trégner), Liliana Ardea (Elena Preville), Oreste Bilancia, Alberto Collo (Gerardo Trégner), Rita D’Harcourt (the nurse), André Habay (Alberto Davis), Domenico Marventi (the doctor), Vittorio Pieri (Michele, Berta’s godfather). 

    Censor date: 31.7.1923 (18494). rel: 12.1923 (Bari). copy: DCP, 90'02", col. (from 35 mm, 1844 m, orig. l. 1955 m., 18 fps, tinted & toned); titles: FRA, NLD. source: Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino.

    Not released in Finland.

    44th Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone: Early Cinema.

    Grand piano: José Maria Serralde Ruiz.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi; e-subtitles in English, 11 Oct 2025

Marco Grifo (GCM 2025): "Probably made concurrently with La piccola parrocchia, L’ombra [The Shadow] is in a way its counterpart, sharing not only cast members but the theme of adultery, though Almirante Manzini now shifts from playing the unfaithful wife to a cheated spouse. In both films, the protagonists’ journeys to forgiveness provide an opportunity for the actress to further demonstrate how versatile and convincing she was, with a talent honed by the experience she had gained in the studio and on stage. Indeed, alongside her film career, Almirante Manzini never abandoned her career as a stage actress, continuing to tread the boards – to which, as she recalled in the 1921 interview in Il Romanzo Film (mentioned in the note for Zingari), she always remained attached, “torn between the fascination I experienced in animating my sculptural creations and the nostalgic passion of endowing them with life through the harmony and vigour of the spoken word”."

  

"In an interview with Il Piccolo della Sera, reprinted in La Rivista Cinematografica (10-25.5.1924), the actress claimed that of all her screen creations L’ombra was her personal favourite. She plays Berta, the wife of Gerardo Trégner, a painter. They lead a peaceful life until she is paralyzed by sudden illness. Forced into immobility, she finds solace in her husband’s love and in the affection of her godfather Michele and best friend Elena. Years later, having unexpectedly and almost miraculously regained the ability to move, she discovers that Gerardo has secretly established a separate family with Elena, and that the couple even have a child. Shattered, she rushes to church to beg the Almighty to restore her infirmity, state of ignorance, and solitude. Meanwhile, Michele realizes that Elena has resumed her relationship with her ex-husband Alberto, and informs Berta, who then orders Elena to leave Gerardo and entrust her with the child, as Elena has proved to be an unworthy mother. Remorseful for his betrayal, Gerardo is forgiven by Berta, who decides to adopt and lovingly care for the illegitimate little boy. Mario Almirante’s script was based on the play by the noted playwright Dario Niccodemi, a close collaborator (and lover) of Réjane."

"Robert Verhulst’s review from Belgium (in French) in La Rivista Cinematografica (10.2.1924) stated: “The notices mention the statuesque I. Almirante, but in fact we can admire all her Italian gracefulness. Her consummate art brings many beautiful scenes to life, among others the final meeting in the studio, the healing, and the reconciliation.” The opinion was echoed in the same pages by Ro-Ma, writing from Fiume: “Alba Film’s masterpiece, L’ombra, was greeted with sincere admiration by countless sharp-eyed viewers. [...] It can be said that in addition to the acting, this magnificent superfilm has all the other factors necessary for a splendid success. An exquisite taste in staging, especially in the interiors, is clearly revealed by crystal-clear photography, perfect in its softness of half-tones, effectiveness, and correct exposure.” Almirante Manzini’s popularity in Belgium is noteworthy, as is testified by the number of her films released there. La Nation Belge (7.12.1923) lauded her performance in L’ombra, declaring (in French): “Her acting, heartfelt and unexaggerated, is internationally popular, and films like La Grande Passion (La Grande Passione) and La Petite Paroisse (La piccola parrocchia) have established her reputation in Belgium once and for all. In Dario Nicodémi’s L’Ombre, she has once again found a role worthy of her beautiful talent. … A humane, moving work, and a truly fine technical achievement, for which one hardly needs prophetic skills to predict an even greater success than her La Petite Paroisse.”"

  

"Awarded the Grand Gold Medal First Prize by the jury of the First International Exhibition of Photography, Optics, and Cinematography in Turin in August 1923, L’ombra had its national premiere at the Cinema Umberto in Bari in the first half of December of the same year. Like earlier productions starring Almirante Manzini, it was acclaimed almost everywhere: in Venice and Florence, and from Antwerp to Zagreb, critics chronicled its widespread popularity. The star’s name alone was now a draw for audiences, who packed theatres for every screening. The story was remade in 1954, directed by Giorgio Bianchi and starring Marta Toren."

                           

"L’ombra was restored by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin and the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique from a duplicate negative printed in 2006 by the Cinematek. Toning and tinting were reconstructed from an original nitrate print held by the Cinematek. The 4K restoration was carried out in the Museo Nazionale del Cinema’s laboratory in 2022-2023." – Marco Grifo

Essential reading: "One Hundred Years Ago: L'ombra (1923)" in European Film Star Postcards, 25 June 2023.

AA: L'ombra, the Italia Almirante Manzini vehicle directed by her husband Mario Almirante, made a huge impression on all who saw it. Paul Cuff in his indispensable The Realm of Silence blog even rated it the best movie he had seen so far in the online edition of Pordenone 2025 (read Pordenone from afar 2025, Day 6).

I was impressed, as well, but struggled to find the vocabulary to convey it.

"The star's name alone was now a draw for audiences, who packed theatres for every screening", writes Marco Grifo in his program note copied above. He also quotes Almirante Manzini's own expression of "sculptural creations" and the terminology of her avid Belgian admirers such as "statuesque", "Italian gracefulness", "consummate art", "exquisite taste" and "heartfelt and unexaggerated" acting.

Seeing L'ombra for the first time, I rate it among the greatest Italian diva vehicles I have seen, in the league of Lyda Borelli's Ma l'amor mio non muore (IT 1913), Francesca Bertini's Assunta Spina (IT 1915), Pina Menichelli's Il fuoco (IT 1915), Eleonora Duse's Cenere (IT 1916) and Nietta Mordeglia and Helena Makowska's Il fauno (IT 1917).

The diva performance was a unique and versatile art of pantomime, based on the extraordinary charisma of the prima donna, drawing on traditions of the theatre, opera and ballet stage. It is an engrossing, wordless art.

In L'ombra, Italia Almirante Manzini is at times like la sonnambula, a sleepwalker in whose presence dream and reality lose their boundaries.

I get stuck by the term "melodrama", that unwieldy expression that covers so much ground that it can turn meaningless. There was the solid commercial "mellerdremmer" business of the 19th century popular stage, fodder for pastiche and parody in 20th century comedy and animation, and an occasional superb tribute such as Griffith's Way Down East.

There is the approach of "Hollywood as melodrama" to quote the memorable title of a retrospective at the NFT / British Film Institute. In a similar vein, Hitchcock noted that "melodrama is the only thing I can do".

Melodrama flourishes more than ever in U.S. American daytime soaps, Latin American telenovelas and Egyptian musalsal. 

The drama of classical antiquity took place in a noble universe driven by divine intervention. The tragedies of Shakespeare of the Elizabethan Era and Corneille and Racine of le Grand Siècle happened in royal circumstances, in a world of aristocracy and absolute monarchy. After the revolutions, contemporary drama was staged among the bourgeoisie. Ibsen created drama without melodrama. But the demand for electrifying stage experiences was high. Drama descended from divine and royal spheres: from heaven to earth, from the court to a bourgeois home. Melodrama was a means of heightening and elevating ordinary conflicts and emotions to a boiling point, explosive heights, transcendence and excess.

Its artistically most persuasive forms were the grand opera and silent diva films.

L'ombra is set in a haunting private sphere. It is a dream play of domesticity. The characters are born to wealth and can indulge in their artistic, sportive and emotional passions. Gerardo is a painter, Berta a tennis player. But Gerardo fails in painting Berta's portrait. It does not represent her soul. When Berta's best friend Elena marries Alberto although she does not love him, Berta is paralyzed. After many years, Berta recovers, only to find out that Gerardo and Elena lead a double life and have a son together. But Elena keeps also seeing Alberto, and Berta and Gerardo decide to stay together - with the son.

Mario Almirante's visual touch is assured and engaging, and his mise-en-scène compelling. David Bordwell paid attention to the mirror motif. When Berta is paralyzed, she orders the mirror removed so that she cannot see herself. When she starts to heal, her hand appears in the mirror.

The shadow, the painting and the mirror are the major motifs.

I missed the 2023 Bologna premiere of this centenary DCP of L'ombra but was happy to catch it in Pordenone. I enjoy the refined restoration and its subtle toning and tinting solutions.

Immagini Lumière di Stoccolma (16 vues Lumière 1897) (2025 restoration Svenska Filminstitutet, 35 mm)

Alexandre Promio: Entrée du château dans le vieux Stockholm (FR 1897). Vue N° 533. Passage de personnes en costumes historiques. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle, section “le Vieux Stockholm”. Projections: Projetée le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède) (Stockholms-Tidningen, 3 juillet 1897).Programmée le 3 septembre 1899 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Entrée du château dans le vieux Stokholm (Suède) (Le Progrès, 3 septembre 1899). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Événement: exposition. Objet: costumes. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), L'exposition de Stockholm, Suède. Séquence [17 vues]. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 533: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Immagini di Stoccolma / Images of Stockholm 1897

    Compilation of 17 Lumière films. The numbers are their Lumière Catalogue numbers (#533-548).

ENTRÉE DU CHÂTEAU DANS LE VIEUX STOCKHOLM (1897, #533)

ARRIVÉE D’UN BATEAU ET DÉBARQUEMENT À L’EXPOSITION (1897, #534)

ARRIVÉE DE LA GARDE AU PALAIS ROYAL, I (1897, #535)

ARRIVÉE DE LA GARDE AU PALAIS ROYAL, II (1897, #536)

ARRIVÉE DU ROI À L’EXPOSITION (1897, #537)

ARRIVÉE DU KRONPRINZ À L’EXPOSITION (#538)

ENTRÉE DU CORTÈGE ROYAL À L’EXPOSITION (#539)

INAUGURATION DES PALAIS (1900, #1153)

UNE BATAILLE DANS LE VIEUX STOCKHOLM (1897, #540)

ENTRÉE DE L’EXPOSITION (1897, #541)

ARRIVÉE À L’EXPOSITION EN BATEAU (1897, #542)

AVESTA: LES CHUTES (1897, #543)

KASTELLHOLMEN: PANORAMA (1897, #544)

NORRSTRÖM: DÉBARQUEMENT (1897, #545)

NORRSTRÖM: PANORAMA (1897, #546)

SALTSJÖBADEN: DÉPART EN CHEMIN DE FER, PANORAMA (1897, #547)

STRANDVÄGEN: PANORAMA (1897, #548)

    Prod: Lumière. photog: Alexandre Promio. copy: 35 mm (from 35 mm neg. dupl.), 245 m (1 rl), 14' (16 fps); no intertitles. source: Svenska Filminstitutet, Stockholm.

    44th Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone: Early Cinema.

    Grand piano: Ludovico Bellucci.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi; the films have no intertitles, 11 Oct 2025

Restored 2025: 35 mm safety prints struck from a 35 mm duplicate negative made in 2025. Both elements were made at the Haghefilm laboratory, Waddinxveen, The Netherlands. The source element for this duplication was a 35 mm acetate duplicate positive made in 1953 from the Lumière camera negatives.

Camille Blot-Wellens, Jon Wengström (GCM 2025): "From the mid-19th century onward, exhibitions and trade fairs became some of the most vibrant expressions of modernization and industrial development in society. They also played a key role in popularizing and disseminating the new medium of moving images. The first screenings in Sweden took place in June 1896, presented by the Danish theatre owner Harald Limkilde in Malmö during the Nordiska industri- och slöjdutställningen (Nordic Industrial and Crafts Exhibition). The following year, Stockholm hosted the Allmänna Konst- och Industriutställningen, a major industrial and craft exhibition held on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm, inaugurated on 15 May. While such exhibitions were common in Sweden at the time, the 1897 edition was particularly significant, commemorating the 25th anniversary of King Oscar II’s reign of Sweden and Norway (then a Union).

Lumière cinematographer Alexandre Promio came to Stockholm to take views of the city, as well as of this exceptional event. His films were shown in a Lumière Kinematograph theatre at the entrance to the exposition, alongside other titles from the Lumière catalogue, throughout the event, which lasted until October. Promio oversaw the installation of the Kinematograph, run by Numa Petersons Handels- och Fabriks-AB, which also provided the laboratory facilities for the processing and printing of the films. Of the sixteen views captured by Promio, eight are related to the exhibition. Two were filmed in an area where the streets of medieval Stockholm had been reconstructed; one, Une bataille dans le vieux Stockholm, depicts a staged fight between two couples. The other films show the arrival of royal guests, and views of the exhibition’s entrance.

During his stay, Promio also captured scenes in other parts of Stockholm, such as the guard parading in front of the Royal Palace, and various landmarks and famous sights seen from the water. The tracking shots – achieved by mounting the camera on a boat – create stunning effects, particularly in Strandvägen: Panorama, the final film in the compilation. Another beautiful tracking shot, Saltsjöbaden: depart en chemin de fer, panorama, was filmed in the village of Saltsjöbaden, outside the capital on the way to the Baltic archipelago. Interestingly, Avesta: les chutes was not filmed at all in the Stockholm area, but in central Sweden, some 150 kilometres away.

After Max Skladanowsky filmed two comic scenes during his stay in Stockholm in August 1896, Alexandre Promio was the first to shoot motion pictures in Sweden. Assisting him was Ernest Florman, a photographer who had followed in his father’s footsteps and had his own studio and workshop. In July 1897, after Promio had left Sweden, Florman would film the king of Siam, Rama V (Chulalongkorn), who was greeted by King Oscar II as he disembarked in front of the Royal Palace. Konungens af Siam landstigning vid Logårdstrappan was the first film made by a Swede, and was subsequently screened at the Lumière Kinematograph during the Djurgården exhibition.

In 1953, in the frame of the 700th anniversary of the city of Stockholm, Einar Lauritzen, the curator of the Filmhistoriska samlingarna (The Film History Collections, the origins of the current archive of the Swedish Film Institute), contacted Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque française with the aim of acquiring prints of the films from 1897. Their correspondence, kept in the SFI collections, reveals that Langlois, who could not duplicate Lumière films at the time, shipped 17 original camera negatives (also sending by mistake a film about the opening of the Grand Palais in 1900) to Stockholm in early May. These were returned to France, together with a duplicate negative requested by Langlois, in mid-June, shortly after the films were submitted to censorship for distribution in Sweden as a compilation entitled Stockholmsbilder 1897 (Images of Stockholm 1897). Alas, no information had been kept regarding the duplication made, and later the duplicate positive was even wrongly inventoried as having been done in the 1970s. Therefore, there was no trace of its existence until recently, when it was inspected in 2024 during an investigation of the early collections of the Swedish Film Institute.

Archival analysis revealed it had been struck on 1953 Kodak safety stock, by contact printing directly from the Lumière negatives, in the correct aspect ratio. This was an intriguing film element, especially as it was one of the rare archival duplications made in Sweden in that period. Further investigation finally led to the laboratory of Svensk Filmindustri (SF) of Filmstaden, in Råsunda, where the well-known cinematographer Julius Jaenzon was at the time working on the reconstruction of the recently and miraculously discovered negative of Gösta Berlings Saga (Mauritz Stiller, 1924), thought to have been destroyed in a tragic fire at the vaults of the company in 1941. Jaenzon had started as an operator in Norway in 1905 before joining the production company Svenska Biografteatern in 1910, and was later entrusted by Magnusson with setting up and directing the laboratory of the newly created SF in 1919. Therefore, Jaenzon had the skills and the experience to be able to duplicate Lumière negatives. As plausible and seductive as this explanation may be, we may never know with certainty, since the paper archives of the SF laboratory have unfortunately been discarded.

Apart from the duplicate positive, the other elements held by the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute were a duplicate negative made in 1991 in Academy ratio (1.37:1), with new Swedish intertitles added at a later stage, and three 35 mm prints made from it, thus also in the wrong aspect ratio. Although these films are well-known and available in various online versions, mostly derived from telecine transfers, the Swedish collections lacked any element to accurately present these landmark films in a theatrical setting.

The Swedish Film Institute therefore decided last year to undertake a new photochemical preservation from the unique 1953 element, in order to obtain a 35 mm print in the correct ratio without modern, invented titles. A new duplicate negative and a print were created in 2025 at Haghefilm in Waddinxveen in The Netherlands. Inspection had confirmed the very good physical condition of the duplicate positive, but it was the first internal test screening of the new 35 mm print that revealed its remarkable stability and photographic quality. All the elements produced, both in 1953 and in 2025, were obtained using contact printing, meaning that the only camera involved was the one hand-cranked by Promio in 1897. No optical printing or digitization was used. Consequently, the new print offers a unique viewing experience, and the closest possible route between the original act of photographic capture and projection. For the first time since the 1950s, it is possible to fully appreciate the quality of the preservation work carried out at the time." – Camille Blot-Wellens, Jon Wengström

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée d’un bateau et débarquement à l’exposition (FR 1897). Vue N° 534. Un bateau accoste et les passagers débarquent sur le ponton. Un employé vérifie les billets. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle. Projections: Programmée le 5 septembre 1897 à Barcelone (Espagne) sous le titre Llegada a la Exposición en vapor [Arrivée à l'Exposition en bateau] (Diario de Barcelona de avisos y noticias, 5 septembre 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: port. Événement: exposition. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), L'exposition de Stockholm, Suède.. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 534: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée de la garde au palais royal, I (FR 1897). Vue N° 535. La garde défile musique en tête, accompagnée par la foule. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, palais royal. Projections: Projection le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède) (Stockholms-Tidningen, 3 juillet 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 1 copie Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: place, ville. Événement: parade militaire. Genre: militaire. Sujet: soldat. Objet: voiture hippomobile. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède.. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 535: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée de la garde au palais royal, II (FR 1897). Vue N° 536. Défilé de la garde accompagnée par la foule. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, palais royal. Projections: Projection le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède) (Stockholms-Tidningen, 3 juillet 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: place, ville. Genre: militaire. Sujet: soldat. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 536: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée du roi à l’exposition (FR 1897). Vue N° 537. “Arrivée à l’Exposition de Stockholm de S. M. le roi de Norvège.” Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: 15 mai 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle. Personnes: En bas, à droite, le roi de Suède et de Norvège Oscar II. Projections: Projetée le 15 mai 1897 à Stockholm (Suède).Programmée le 10 octobre 1897 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Suède : arrivée du roi dans l'Exposition de Stockholm (Le Courrier de Lyon, 10 octobre 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Personnes identifiées: identi-820. Événement: cérémonie, exposition. Genre: événement officiel. Sujet: personnalité. Objet: voiture hippomobile. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 537: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée du kronprinz à l’exposition (FR 1897). Vue N° 538. Des calèches approchent d’un escalier. Le kronprinz Gustave grimpe les marches et est accueilli par plusieurs personnes. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio Date: 15 mai 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Personnes identifiées: identi-350. Événement: cérémonie, exposition. Genre: événement officiel. Sujet: personnalité. Objet: voiture hippomobile. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. From: Catalogue LumièreVue N° 538: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Entrée du cortège royal à l’exposition (FR 1897). Vue N° 539. Le cortège descend un escalier puis entre dans un bâtiment. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: 15 mai 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle. Projections: Programmée le 5 septembre 1897 à Barcelone (Espagne) sous le titre Exposición de Suecia. Cortejo Real [Exposition de Suède. Cortège Royal] (Diario de Barcelona de avisos y noticias, 5 septembre 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Événement: cérémonie, exposition, parade militaire. Genre: événement officiel. Sujet: personnalité. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 539: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Inconnu: Inauguration des palais (FR 1900). Vue N° 1153. Passage du président Émile Loubet et de son escorte. Opérateur: inconnu. Date: 14 avril 1900. Lieu: France, Paris, Exposition universelle 1900. Personnes: Le président Émile Loubet, au centre, saluant. Projections: Programmée le 24 mai 1900 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Inauguration des palais I et II (Le Progrès, 26 mai 1900). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 1 copie Lumière. Pays: France. Ville: Paris. Personnes identifiées: Émile Loubet. Événement: cérémonie, exposition. Genre: événement officiel. Sujet: personnalité. Séries: Inauguration de l'exposition universelle. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 1153: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Une bataille dans le vieux Stockholm (FR 1897). Vue N° 540. Deux hommes en costumes historiques se prennent de querelle, puis des gardes les séparent. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle, section “le Vieux Stockholm”. Projections: Projetée le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède) (Stockholms-Tidningen, 3 juillet 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: place, ville. Événement: affrontement, exposition. Objet: costumes. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), L'exposition de Stockholm, Suède. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 540: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Entrée de l’exposition (FR 1897). Vue N° 541. Circulation de piétons et d’omnibus sur un pont. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle. Personnes: Au centre, à l'arrière-plan, le pavillon central de l'Exposition et le Musée du Nord (à droite). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: pont, ville. Événement: exposition. Objet: tramway hippomobile et omnibus, voiture hippomobile. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), L'exposition de Stockholm, Suède. From: Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 541: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Arrivée à l’exposition en bateau (FR 1897). Vue N° 542. Panorama d’un débarcadère et de bateaux amarrés. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Djurgarden, Exposition industrielle, lac Mälaren. Technique: Travelling latéral de gauche à droite. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 1 copie Edison. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: lac. Événement: exposition. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), L'exposition de Stockholm, Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 542: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Avesta : les chutes (FR 1897). Vue N° 543. Remous et bouillonnements d’un cours d’eau longeant des bâtiments industriels. Classement originel erroné : Avesta ne se trouve pas à Stockholm. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Avesta, Dalécarlie [Dalarna]. Projections: Projetée le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède) (Stockholms-Tidningen, 3 juillet 1897).Programmée le 10 octobre 1897 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Suède : les chutes d'Avesta (Le Courrier de Lyon, 10 octobre 1897). Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 1 copie Edison. Pays: Suède. Ville: ville-15. Lieu: cours d’eau. Genre: villes et paysages. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 543: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Kastellholmen : panorama (FR 1897). Vue N° 544. Panorama de rivages et d’installations portuaires pris d’un bateau. Graphie originelle du titre : Castellholmen : Panorama. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Kastellholmen, lac Mälaren. Projections: Programmée le 25 mars 1901 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Castellholmen en Suède (Le Progrès, 24 mars 1901). Technique: Travelling latéral de gauche à droite. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: lac. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 544: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Norrström : débarquement (FR 1897). Vue N° 545. Un bateau accoste puis les passagers en descendent, remplacés par d’autres voyageurs. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Norrström, lac Mälaren. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: lac, port. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 545: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Norrström : panorama (FR 1897). Vue N° 546. Panorama des quais et de la circulation des bateaux. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Norrström, lac Mälaren. Projections: Programmée le 14 octobre 1900 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Suède : panorama de Norrstrom (Le Progrès, 15 octobre 1900). Technique: Travelling latéral de gauche à droite. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière - 1 copie Edison. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: lac. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Les panoramas d’Alexandre Promio, Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 546: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Saltsjöbaden : départ en chemin de fer, panorama (FR 1897). Vue N° 547. Panorama d’une route qui longe la voie ferrée. Graphie originelle du titre : Salstjoladen : Départ en chemin de fer. Panorama. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Saltsjöbaden. Projections: Programmée le 14 octobre 1900 à Lyon (France) sous le titre Suède : panorama de Salstjoladen (Le Progrès, 15 octobre 1900). Technique: Travelling latéral de gauche à droite. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: train. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Les panoramas d’Alexandre Promio, Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 547: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

Alexandre Promio: Strandvägen : panorama (FR 1897). Vue N° 548. Panorama de bateaux amarrés et de la circulation sur un quai. Graphie originelle du titre : Strandiragen : Panorama. Opérateur: Alexandre Promio. Date: [15 mai 1897] - 21 juin 1897. Lieu: Suède, Stockholm, Strandvägen, lac Mälaren. Projections: Projetée le 3 juillet 1897 à Stockholm (Suède). Technique: Travelling latéral de droite à gauche. Eléments filmiques: négatif Lumière. Pays: Suède. Ville: Stockholm. Lieu: lac. Genre: villes et paysages. Objet: bateau. Séries: Alexandre Promio en Suède (1897), Les panoramas d’Alexandre Promio, Suède. Catalogue Lumière Vue N° 548: L’œuvre cinématographique des frères Lumière.

AA: On view is a fabulous discovery of an entire run of Lumière views from the year 1897 in Sweden, covering mostly Stockholm, shot with the reliable touch of the globetrotter Alexandre Promio, including assured tracking shots taken from moving vehicles such as trains and boats. All preserved in an unbroken chain of 35 mm film, not far removed from the original nitrate camera negatives.

The films are not unknown and unshown, but for the first time since 1953 it is now possible to see them in the original aspect ratio in copies close to the negative.

Over the years I have seen usually awful prints of Lumière films, but also refined and exquisite prints boutique-made for Henri Langlois at the laboratory of Jean-Paul Boyer in the 1960s. Recently we have been treated to brilliant 4K digital transfers in Thierry Frémaux's outstanding Lumière compilations.

Lumière films belong to the illustrious legacy of Impressionism, and issues of visual and print quality are of the essence. The Lumière films are the first masterpieces in the cinema's art of light and motion. They need to be seen in good screenings.

Unfortunately there were issues of focus and contrast in the screening today. It did not do justice to the art and craft of Alexandre Promio. According to the Swedish Film Institute there is nothing wrong with the prints. I look forward to revisiting them in a better screening.