The origins of the documentary

The first documentary shot in Sardinia is by the Lumière brothers, inventors of cinematography, who in 1899 sent their operators to the island for a “current film” entitled “[span lang="fr"] Voyage du Roi Humbert Ier en Sardaigne [/span]”.

A few minutes of moving images to tell the curious and attentive public about the inauguration of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele in Sassari, the king and queen visiting a mine, the historic costume ride in Sassari.

Restored for the 100th anniversary of cinema in 1995 by “Lumière”, the documentary was then copied to the Cineteca Sarda and is now being disseminated and studied. In fact, it seems that in this brief “cinematituality” a pattern has been codified that will be followed by almost all filmmakers at least until the Sixties, with few but firm constitutive elements: the activities of the rulers, public works, popular traditions.

Sardinia appeared on the screen in the early twentieth century in documentaries, unfortunately lost, whose significant titles are known, however: “Sardinia: customs and traditions”, “Visit to a silver mine”, “Small crafts of the sea”, in addition to the predictable “Brigands in Sardinia”.

Since the 1920s, opportunities for royal visits and inaugurations of public works, major agrarian remediation and the foundations of new cities have multiplied, with documentaries such as' Mussolina '(1932) and' Carbonia '(1941). The representation of Sardinia as an ancient and mythical land is entrusted to films such as “In the Countries of the Orbace” in

1931.

Update

19/9/2023 - 18:41