14 Learning Activities: Day 1: Screening and discussion of early short films After screening each film with the whole class, ask the students to answer questions individually or in small groups, and if they are comfortable doing so, allow time for a whole class discussion. 1.WORKERS LEAVING THE LUMIÈRE FACTORY- This film, from 1895 is one of the earliest movies ever made. The 46-second silent picture was directed and produced by Louis Lumière and captures a continuous stretch of time that shows employees leaving a photography equipment factory in France, at the lunch hour. The film was first privately shown in Paris on March 22, 1895. It was the first time a movie had been screened for an audience.Questions for students: a.What do you notice about this film? b.How did it make you feel? c.Is there anything about the film that you can relate to? 2.THE CABBAGE FAIRY (watch until “Fin” at 1:07) THE CABBAGE FAIRY (1900) was made by the firstever woman filmmaker, Alice Guy Blaché, and is a remake of the lost film she first created in 1896. It is also famous for being the first movie ever to tell a story, rather than simply show something, such as workers leaving a factory. In one continuous shot, the story’s main character looks for the babies a fairy left in the cabbage garden.Questions for students: a.What did you notice about this film? How did it make you feel? b.How was it different from “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory?” c.What is the theme or story? 3.SOMETHING GOOD - NEGRO KISS (SHORT DOCUMENTARY) In this short documentary from the Academy Museum exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971,” curators Rhea Combs and Doris Berger, along with Academy Museum President and Director Jacqueline Stewart, discuss SOMETHING GOOD--NEGRO KISS (1898). It was the first film to show African American actors kissing and is an adaptation of an earlier film with white actors called “The Kiss.” It was lost until 2017 when it was found at the University of Southern California. It is now in the National Film Registry.Questions for students: a.How does SOMETHING GOOD--NEGRO KISS (1898) differ from Edison’s short film, THE KISS (1896)? b.What did you notice about SOMETHING GOOD--NEGRO KISS? How did it make you feel? How would you describe the characters’ interaction? For students interested in learning more about the discovery process of SOMETHING GOOD--NEGRO KISS, here are two articles: https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/something-good-negro-kiss-lost-black-films-1234654298/ https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/how-a-20-second-film-of-black-performers-kissing-in-1898was-rediscovered-and-why-it-matters
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