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Around the Village Green

Rural life in the Essex villages of Finchingfield and Great Bardfield - and the mixed reactions of older residents to changing times.

  • Travelogue
  • 1937
  • 12 mins

One Foot in Eden

Orkney evoked through poetry, the sounds of nature, and the music of Peter Maxwell Davies.

  • Documentary
  • 1978
  • 49 mins

A Day in the Hayfields

Midsummer haymaking larks

  • Non-Fiction
  • 1904
  • 3 mins

West of England

The Stroud valleys of Gloucestershire in glorious Technicolor - and with a Laurie Lee script.

  • Industry sponsored film
  • 1951
  • 10 mins

Showtime

From shire horses to the Royal Marines, welcome to the annual Newark Show. A serious business for the farming community, with prizes to win and 800 gallons of beer to be drunk.

  • Documentary
  • 1984
  • 23 mins

Springtime in an English Village

An extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime in which a young black girl is crowned Queen of the May.

  • Documentary
  • Government sponsored film
  • 1944
  • 7 mins

Watch Paul Wright's stunning feature documentary, assembled from these archive films.

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"Oh to Be in England"

Bluebells, wisteria and snowdrops feature in this lovely colour film showing the effect of nature on the London suburb of Harrow after the war.

  • Amateur film
  • 1947
  • 13 mins

Cuckfield Silver Jubilee 1977.

Cuckfield comes together to plan and celebrate the 1977 Silver Jubilee with contributions from the whole community.

  • Amateur film
  • 1977
  • 28 mins

Fenlands

Fascinating documentary about the management of the East Anglian Fens, an intricate network of 17th-century waterways carved through peat bogs.

  • Government sponsored film
  • 1945
  • 17 mins

In Welsh Hills - a record of pleasant hours among the mountains of Snowdonia

A film highly commended in 1950 by the National Eisteddfod in Caerffili, the Scottish Amateur Film Festival, and Amateur Cine World magazine.

  • Amateur film
  • 1950
  • 15 mins

Here and There in the British Isles

Good composition and a keen eye for an unusual perspective turn what could be a hodgepodge compilation of short travelogues into a visual treat.

  • Travelogue
  • 1931
  • 29 mins

Lowland Village

A peaceful depiction of Lavenham, Suffolk, the medieval village known for its use in the 1968 film Witchfinder General.

  • Documentary
  • 1942
  • 10 mins

Salute to Farmers

With feeding the nation a wartime priority, agricultural workers are heralded as soldiers of the plough.

  • Documentary
  • 1941
  • 14 mins

Radford Review

The villagers of Radford Semele in Warwickshire know how to have fun: from the eccentrically costumed football players to the joys of the village fete.

  • Amateur film
  • 1952
  • 22 mins

Song of the Woods

You can almost hear the wind in the trees, the gurgling water and the bells for Evensong in this beautifully shot film from Frank Barnitt

  • Amateur film
  • 1937
  • 12 mins

Tribe of the Sun

The ill-fated dreams of Sid Rawls’ band of ‘ultra hippies’ attempting a self-sufficient communal life on John Lennon’s ‘Beatle Island’.

  • Amateur film
  • Documentary
  • 1972
  • 24 mins

Wisdom of the Wild

Fun mixture of natural history and wartime public information.

  • Documentary
  • 1940
  • 12 mins

The Quiet Land

A rare portrait of Northern Ireland in a time of conflict as “a land where the pace of life is more friendly, where everybody cares and nobody minds”.

  • Sponsored film
  • Travelogue
  • 1974
  • 23 mins

A Romany Summer

With their battered vardo, scruffy kids and assorted horses in tow, Cocker and Ellie are on an “endless odyssey”, visiting Appleby Fair, trying to eke out their own chosen life.

  • Documentary
  • 1977
  • 43 mins

Spare Time

A rare glimpse into the leisure pursuits of ordinary people in pre-war Britain.

  • Documentary
  • 1939
  • 14 mins

Burrator

A documentary on Burrator reservoir in the Dartmoor National Park

  • Amateur film
  • Documentary
  • 1960
  • 29 mins

The Pioneers of Nudism

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...

  • Amateur film
  • 1938
  • 27 mins

Action in Slow Motion

A naked woman cavorts innocently at the seaside in this 1940s nudist film, strictly for artists and students only

  • 1943
  • 3 mins

It Never Really Happened

Do our eyes deceive us? Trick shots galore in this magical tour of London.

  • Trick film
  • 1930
  • 4 mins

Alice in Wonderland

The first-ever film version of Lewis Carroll's tale, made just 37 years after the novel’s publication and eight years after the birth of cinema.

  • Fantasy
  • 1903
  • 10 mins

Enchanted Garden

A magical dream sequence of dancing fairies that seems to draw upon very early moving images of staged dances of fairy tales, beautifully performed by enchanting children.

  • Amateur film
  • 1931
  • 12 mins

Getting It Straight in Notting Hill Gate

Spaced-out sitar music and the prog rock grooves of Quintessence soundtrack this psychedelic flashback to Notting Hill Gate in 1970.

  • Documentary
  • 1970
  • 25 mins

Solarflares Burn for You

Come on a psychedelic journey to Cornwall in this stunning, sensual film.

  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 1973
  • 8 mins

Hiker's Haunt

Disrespectful townie hikers get what's coming to them when the woodland spirits of Knole Park take their revenge.

  • Amateur film
  • Comedy
  • 1950
  • 17 mins

The Pixies of Ottery St Mary

Pixies pop up everywhere before being banished once again from the town.

  • Current affairs
  • News
  • 1963
  • 1 mins

Tame Animals at Work

Ostrich-riding and other outrageous animal antics at a private zoo in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

  • Interest film
  • 1909
  • 6 mins

Swat That Fly!

Warning - not safe for work lunch! This public health film on the common house fly is designed to make you squirm

  • Documentary
  • 1915
  • 6 mins

Butcher's guardpuma

Solomon the guard puma - put your paws up!

  • Current affairs
  • News
  • 1976
  • 3 mins

The Aetherius Society at Holdstone Down

Aetherius people join together to help the planet at Holy Mountain

  • Current affairs
  • News
  • 1963
  • 5 mins

Elsie and the Brown Bunny

This early Cadbury advert plays like a surreal outtake from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

  • Advert
  • Children's
  • 1921
  • 8 mins

A Dog's life by Bonzo

Pity poor Bonzo. Bought by a couple who quickly tire of his doggie antics, he's now the object of murderous intentions. But can Bonzo redeem himself in time to save his skin?

  • Amateur film
  • Comedy
  • 1955
  • 12 mins

Impatience

Excitable or restless? Learn how to control your impulses in this safety film from the National Coal Board

  • Documentary
  • 1971
  • 8 mins

I Saw This, November 1940

An enigmatic pot-pourri of a film of a village in wartime. Although life appears here as normal, an inauspicious motif seems to lurk within the avant-garde cinematic style.

  • Home movie
  • 1940
  • 17 mins

The Peaches

Meet a very beautiful, very clever girl who adores peaches in Michael Gill's BFI-funded fantasy short.

  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 1964
  • 16 mins

The Flood

Eight East Anglian kids trapped by floods must fend for themselves in this wet and windy film adventure.

  • Action and Adventure
  • Children's
  • 1963
  • 59 mins

The Warning

Powerful and sometimes disturbing account of Britain's defences against enemy attack - made six months before WWII.

  • Documentary
  • 1939
  • 33 mins

The Silent Village

The villagers of Cwmgiedd re-enact a Nazi massacre in Czechoslovakia, in Humphrey Jennings’ unforgettable propaganda film.

  • Government sponsored film
  • War
  • 1943
  • 36 mins

Today We Live

A key social issues film documentary from the British Documentary Movement, this two-part film follows the establishment of social enterprises in England and Wales.

  • Documentary
  • 1937
  • 24 mins

Paradox City

A call to action contrasting the grand homes of the wealthy with "the appalling shelter of thousands of decent citizens" in London slums.

  • Documentary
  • 1932
  • 23 mins

March against Starvation

Poverty and hunger compels angry, jobless workers - including Jarrow's crusaders - to make a historic march to London to petition government.

  • Campaigning film
  • 1936
  • 31 mins

Death Is Their Destiny

Fascinating amateur footage of London punks, and a glimpse of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, filmed on the King's Road in 1978.

  • Amateur film
  • 1978
  • 13 mins

The Smoke Menace

The deadly downside of Britain's industrial might: smog.

  • Industry sponsored film
  • 1937
  • 11 mins

Contrasts in Kensington

Shocking scenes of Kensington slums and 1930s housing developments offer a sharp contrast with today's reinvented area.

  • Amateur film
  • 1937
  • 11 mins

Emma

A bittersweet short about a young girl who spends an afternoon playing in Highgate Cemetery where she discovers what the future may have to offer.

  • Drama
  • 1965
  • 12 mins

Punk Can Take It

This power-packed promotional film for the UK Subs also showcases the distinctive talents of unconventional writer and director Julien Temple.

  • Promotional
  • 1979
  • 19 mins

Empire Troops

The might of the British Empire is mobilised for war during 1914 and 1915.

  • 1917
  • 3 mins

Inter-city Magic

Not-so-special special effects add the magic touch to this kitsch British Rail commercial.

  • Documentary
  • 1977
  • 1 mins

The Airy Tomb

An isolated life can mean that home is nothing more than an “airy tomb”, as imagined by poet and rural parish priest R S Thomas.

  • Drama
  • 1963
  • 13 mins

Road to Yesterday

Widgey Raphael Newman, the short-lived, extraordinarily-named director of this period piece, has assembled attractive images of Wales but beware the commentary!

  • Travelogue
  • 1944
  • 32 mins

Squatters

To the front line of London's early 1970s' housing crisis in this angry campaign film.

  • Documentary
  • 1970
  • 17 mins

Pinner Week

A tour of Pinner Village during its celebratory Pinner Week highlights local landmarks, fun, fancy dress and festivities.

  • Amateur film
  • 1970
  • 21 mins

The Stevenstone Hunt Ball

Revellers gather at the Hunt Ball to witness some hornblowing

  • Current affairs
  • News
  • 1970
  • 7 mins

Rave

Partying like it's 1997. We follow a rave DJ instigator rigging up decks in abandoned warehouses, a nosebleed 'techno tourist' who chases the hardcore around Europe and a girl addicted to... partying.

  • Documentary
  • 1997
  • 12 mins

Somewhere in Hackney

An entertaining study of community arts projects in Hackney, Hoxton and Dalston, before hipsters and Tony Blair.

  • Documentary
  • 1980
  • 50 mins

Chudleigh Conservationist

Author Ewan Clarkson talks of his passion for nature

  • Current affairs
  • News
  • 1971
  • 8 mins

The Watchers

A Yorkshire teenager begins to see and hear strange things in this unsettling slice of 60s sci-fi.

  • Drama
  • 1969
  • 26 mins

Harewood by George: A Profile of the Seventh Earl

A life unfolds, from fear of asking for the loo as a child, to being imprisoned in Colditz and sentenced to death by Hitler, and on to becoming a leading player in the world of opera.

  • Documentary
  • 1982
  • 39 mins

A Light through the Clouds

What a mental health nurse learns at York Retreat, 1954: from lectures on “failure in human relationships” and insulin, to psychotherapy, electric shock treatment and dancing.

  • Documentary
  • 1955
  • 37 mins

Wonders of Yorkshire

Rocks resembling alien creatures, a giant white horse, wooden mice, a cave where a famous prophetess lived, and a teddy turned to stone.

  • Amateur film
  • 1974
  • 10 mins

Blowing Up the Dales

The pros and cons of quarrying in national parks, and the irony of a state of affairs where what aids the enjoyment of landscape also destroys it.

  • Documentary
  • 1987
  • 26 mins

Wildlife in London

The beginning of a ground-breaking, award-winning documentary series that would lead the way in wildlife photography.

  • Nature and Science programme
  • 1961
  • 25 mins

Stigmata

A man loses everything he has day-dreaming his way through life

  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 1970
  • 22 mins

The Hungry Grass

After one hundred years what will it take to finally satisfy the hungry grass?

  • Amateur film
  • Fantasy
  • 1981
  • 5 mins

Being and Doing

Ken McMullen and Stuart Brisley consider the links between performance art and folk ritual.

  • Documentary
  • 1984
  • 55 mins

Apaches

One of the most disturbing public safety films depicts six children being picked off one-by-one by deadly farming machinery.

  • Documentary
  • 1977
  • 27 mins

The Finishing Line

In this surrealist short, John Krish and Michael Gilmour tell a perilous tale at the railway station. Mind the gap - this is going to get scary.

  • Instructional film/TV programme
  • School programme and Educational film
  • 1977
  • 21 mins

Best of Friends: Russell and Victor

Days of heaven for two young friends in the idyllic wilds of Armley, Leeds.

  • 1976
  • 15 mins

Inheritance

What does the future hold for Herefordshire's children? A farming inheritance is no longer a given and even the historically rock-solid village life is losing its permanence.

  • Documentary
  • 1987
  • 28 mins

Lady Lazarus

A cinematographic response to Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus with Plath’s own readings of her poetry

  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • 1991
  • 24 mins

Floating

Deliciously dark psychodrama about a Docklands bus driver who turns his family home into a second Noah's ark.

  • Animation & Artists Moving Image
  • Comedy
  • 1991
  • 41 mins