Abstract shapes dance on a dark screen, a silent symphony of color and movement.

Created by Walter Ruttmann, Lichtspiel Opus I (1921) pulsates with a captivating dance of geometric forms – circles, squares, and waves – awash in vibrant colors against a dark background.

This groundbreaking appro...

Abstract film plays with light & shapes, building on innovations from Opus I.

Created using a unique oil-on-glass animation technique, Walter Ruttmann's Lichtspiel Opus II (1922) is a visual and rhythmic exploration of abstract shapes. Angular lines dance with organic forms, creating a dynamic ...

Bright shapes move against a dark background in the third part of the series.

Created by German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann, Lichtspiel Opus III (1924) is a purely visual experience. Ruttmann utilizes a technique of manipulating shapes and colors on film, resulting in a dynamic interplay of abstra...

Abstract shapes dance to a beat, creating a visual symphony in the final installment of the series.

Walter Ruttmann's Lichtspiel Opus IV (1925) utilizes a technique of hand-painted geometric shapes on film stock, creating a dynamic interplay of form and movement. Opus IV is part of a series of ...

Koko the Clown stumbles on levers controlling Earth's weather then accidentally destroys everything.

Koko's Earth Control (1928), a silent era cartoon by Fleischer Studios, features Koko the Clown, a popular character who often interacted with the real world. In this instance, Koko stumbles upon...

Silent film poem: woman, motorcycle, mountain landscapes race in a visual symphony of impatience.

Impatience (1928), a groundbreaking work by Belgian artist Charles Dekeukeleire, throws out traditional narrative structure, instead focusing on the raw power of visual elements. The film presents ...

Windows, streetlights and illuminated signs in Paris, Berlin, London and Prague.

Created in 1928, Eugène Deslaw's Les Nuits Électriques (1928) breaks away from traditional narrative structures, instead focusing on the visual symphony of nighttime cityscapes.

Deslaw's camera captures the pulsa...

Cashier tempts fate, steals fortune, finds emptiness in city's dark underbelly.

From Morn to Midnight (1920), a silent film directed by Karlheinz Martin, is a radical adaptation of Georg Kaiser's play and plunges viewers into a world distorted by the protagonist's desires.

The film's expression...

A priest's forbidden desires fuel surreal visions of lust and death.

The Seashell and the Clergyman, a groundbreaking 1928 French film directed by Germaine Dulac with a screenplay co-written by Antonin Artaud, breaks away from conventional storytelling, instead plunging viewers into the tormente...

Abstract shapes dance across the screen in this early animation that explores movement and rhythm.

Symphonie Diagonale, a groundbreaking 1923 work by Viking Eggeling, abandons traditional storytelling altogether, focusing instead on the visual language of cinema itself. Abstract geometric shape...

A waiter's dream turns his cafe into a wacky, nightmarish hallucination.

The Hasher's Delirium, a short animation by Émile Cohl released in 1910, rejects realism in favor of a wild and expressive style. The film depicts the fantastical dreams of a café waiter, where objects morph and characters ...

1925 silent film turns cinema into puzzle game, showing clues then answers for crossword.

Unlike traditional films, Rebus Film Nr. 1 (1925), a short and playful experiment by German director Paul Leni, doesn't tell a story. Instead, it functions as a two-part interactive puzzle for the audience....

Reckless driver zooms past cops, defies gravity to Saturn, then gets back in time for court.

The ? Motorist, a whimsical 1906 short by Walter R. Booth, gleefully throws out narrative conventions, instead reveling in the fantastical possibilities of the new medium. A seemingly ordinary car ride t...

Naive peasant in St. Petersburg finds city life harsh, witnesses revolution's rise.

The End of St. Petersburg, a 1927 silent film by Vsevolod Pudovkin, is an important example of Soviet montage theory. While it depicts a historical event – the rise of the Bolsheviks leading to the 1917 revoluti...

Cinepoem explores water's beauty & diversity: calm lakes, raging rivers, & ice's transformation.

Ralph Steiner's silent film, H2O (1929) abandons traditional narrative structure in favor of a poetic and impressionistic exploration of water in all its forms. Steiner's camera captures the flow of...