Cinematographic Pleasures
Highlights of Eye Filmmuseum

May 18 - June 4, 2023

Pera Film's program for May continues with a partnership with Eye Filmmuseum, one of the foremost film museums in Europe. Taking place in parallel with International Museum Day and curated by Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, the program titled Cinematographic Pleasures: Highlights of Eye Filmmuseum invites the audience on a journey that sheds light on the 128-year history of cinema.

As the national film archive of The Netherlands, Eye Filmmuseum has the duty to safeguard the Dutch film heritage. However, practically since its creation in 1946, the institute has adopted a wider policy and made its mission to preserve and promote the Dutch cinema culture in the broadest sense. This means that all cinematic manifestations taking place in the Netherlands are considered to be part of the collective cinematic memory. 

Every national archive exists first and foremost to keep and restore its country’s lost films. Although the Dutch film industry was not very prolific in the first decades, there were pioneers who made films, sometimes against all odds, such as the diva of the screen Annie Bos. For various reasons, many Dutch silent films are lost today. As a case in point, Carmen van het Noorden (featured in this program) was found in the USA in 1974 and repatriated to the Netherlands.

Eye’s policy of including foreign and lesser-known films within its artistic vision is given by the nature of the Eye's core museal holdings. Among others, two of the most important collections are included in the Pera Film program; The Mutoscope and Biograph collection consists of circa 200 films shot around the world between 1897-1902, still preserved in their 68mm format. Desmet Collection was recognized by Unesco as a world heritage in 2011 and consists of over 900 films made between 1906-1917 and the complete company archives of Jean Desmet, cinema owner and film distributor. 

In the early 1990s, the appointment of the filmmaker Peter Delpeut as artistic director created a new impulse for the Filmmuseum to explore the limits of a film archive in every sense. During his tenure, Delpeut made numerous ‘found footage’ films. The Forbidden Quest, for which Delpeut sifted through hundreds of fragments showing polar expeditions in the film archive, went well beyond the archival circuit, and was awarded at regular film festivals. Today, decades later, Delpeut’s legacy is still alive in Eye’s archival approach.

The program Cinematographic Pleasures: Highlights of Eye Filmmuseum will be at Pera Film between May 18 - June 4!

Tickets are available at Biletix and the museum. As per legal regulations, all our screenings are restricted to persons over 18 years of age unless stated otherwise.

May 18

19:00 The Forbidden Quest

May 19

19:00 Carmen of the North

A Profitable Exchange

21:00 The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe
(1897-1902)

May 26

19:00 Desmet Collection: Ladies first!

21:00 The Forbidden Quest

May 31

19:00 The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe
(1897-1902)

June 2

19:30 Desmet Collection: Ladies first!

June 4

15:00 Carmen of the North

A Profitable Exchange

The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe <br>(1897-1902)

The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe
(1897-1902)

The Forbidden Quest

The Forbidden Quest

Carmen of the North

Carmen of the North

A Profitable Exchange

A Profitable Exchange

Desmet Collection: Ladies first!

Desmet Collection: Ladies first!

Medicinal Herbs in Byzantium

Medicinal Herbs in Byzantium

Knowledge of plants and the practice of healing are closely entwined. The toxic or hallucinogenic nature of some roots, and the dangers associated with picking them, conferred a mythical or magical character and power. 

Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico was born on July 10, 1888, in Volos, Greece, to an Italian family. His mother, Gemma Cervetto, was from a family of Genoa origin, but most likely she was born in Izmir. His father, Evaristo, was born on June 21, 1841 in the Büyükdere district of Istanbul.

Journey to the East

Journey to the East

Pera Museum presents an exhibition of French artist Félix Ziem, one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. This week we are sharing Ziem’s work inspired by Istanbul and “the East”!