The Weavers (1905 film)

15-second clip showing the 114-year-old Despina Manaki spinning.

The Weavers^[1] or Grandmother Despina is a short silent, black and white documentary film made in 1905 by the Balkan film pioneers the Manaki brothers in the small Aromanian village of Avdella, in the Ottoman vilayet of Monastir. It is about 60 seconds long and depicts the Manakis' aunts and 114-year-old grandmother Despina spinning and weaving.^[2]^[3]^[4] It was originally called "Our 114-year-old grandmother at work weaving", but has come to be known as The Weavers.^[5]

It is believed to be the first film shot anywhere in the Ottoman Balkans.^[6]

The film was shot with 35 mm film with an Urban Bioscope movie camera (serial number 300) imported from London.^[6]

Appropriation[]

An extract from the film appears at the beginning of Theo Angelopoulos's 1995 film Ulysses' Gaze.

References[]

^ Cinema and Classical Texts: Apollo's New Light, Martin M. Winkler, Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 0521518601, p. 71.
^ Zacharia, p. 323
^ Balkan border crossings: First annual of the Konitsa Summer School, Vasilēs G. Nitsiakos, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, ISBN 3825809188, pp. 41–42.
^ Hellenisms: culture, identity, and ethnicity from antiquity to modernity, Katerina Zacharia, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, ISBN 0754665259, p. 323.
^ Filmland Griechenland – Terra incognita: griechische, Elene Psoma, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2008, ISBN 3832516182, S. 23. (Ger.)
^ ^a ^b Vecer Online – One century of the Macedonian seventh art. (Mk.)

Bibliography[]

Greece in modern times: an annotated bibliography of works published in English in twenty-two academic disciplines during the twentieth century, 1:109
Katerina Zacharia, "'Reel' Hellenisms: Perceptions of Greece in Greek Cinema" in Katerina Zacharia, Hellenisms, p. 323

External links[]

The Weavers at IMDb

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[1] Cinema and Classical Texts: Apollo's New Light, Martin M. Winkler, Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 0521518601, p. 71.

[2] Zacharia, p. 323

[3] Balkan border crossings: First annual of the Konitsa Summer School, Vasilēs G. Nitsiakos, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, ISBN 3825809188, pp. 41–42.

[4] Hellenisms: culture, identity, and ethnicity from antiquity to modernity, Katerina Zacharia, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, ISBN 0754665259, p. 323.

[5] Filmland Griechenland – Terra incognita: griechische, Elene Psoma, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2008, ISBN 3832516182, S. 23. (Ger.)

[vecer-6] Vecer Online – One century of the Macedonian seventh art. (Mk.)

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