Before the rise of television, the newsreel was the dominant moving-image news format, keeping cinemagoers informed, usually on a weekly basis, about local and global events. Combining as many items as could fit onto a single 300m reel of film, newsreels covered everything from politics, society, arts and culture, to sport, fashion and entertainment. Not intended as a “best of” the year’s most significant milestones, the selection is rather guided by thematic connections to the other films – connections that are lost in the catalogue, where the newsreels are presented collectively. For this reason, the title of the corresponding feature film is included in brackets. This year’s line-up: the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in April 1926 (Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei); Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine, whose face had played an important role in Lev Kuleshov’s original montage experiment, as he is about to leave France for Hollywood (Po Zakonu); severe flooding that affected several European countries at the start of 1926, and Amelia Gade Corson successfully swimming the English Channel on 29 August (Meren kasvojen edessä); the signing of the arbitration treaty between Germany and Italy on 29 December (Faust); and, tying in with this year’s Josephine Baker programme, the iconic African American dancer performing in the revue La Folie du jour at the Folies Bergere (So this is Paris).

Oliver Hanley