Most Exciting Find In Film History

The first regional public showing of films taken from a collection described as "the most exciting find in UK film history for more than 100 years" and "the crown jewels of early film" takes place at the University of Sheffield on Saturday 13 July.

Billed at the time as "local films for local people" and recording everyday life and events in a number of towns and cities, the films were commissioned by travelling showmen for screening at fairgrounds in the parts of the country where they were made. Together they constitute some 26 hours of unique footage, a priceless social history record of a vanished age.

Until last year the 780 film negatives dating from the turn of the 20th Century lay undiscovered in what used to be the premises of film-makers Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn, Lancashire. Local historian Peter Worden saved the airtight barrels that contained the films from being thrown into a skip when workmen were stripping the building.

Over the next three years, the British Film Institute will be preserving and transferring the original delicate nitrate films. Dr Vanessa Toulmin, research director of the University of Sheffield's National Fairground Archive, has secured a £150,000 grant to fund research at the University to establish the date and context of each film in partnership with the bfi.  The bfi's J. Paul Getty Conservation centre is preserving each film from the original negatives using specially adapted printing techniques, and the image quality is astonishing.

Subjects to be screened in Sheffield include, for example, traditional well dressings in Buxton, factory gate scenes at Brown's and Vickers' works in Sheffield, Salt's works at Saltaire, soccer and rugby matches (e.g. Hunslet v Leeds 16 February 1901), tram rides through Sheffield filmed from the top deck, Preston egg rollers, a Manchester cycle parade, a Whitsuntide Fair and bank holiday festivities.

Since their rediscovery, films from the Peter Worden Mitchell and Kenyon collection have only been seen twice before - at last year's Sacile film festival in Italy, and at a National Film Theatre preview in London earlier this month. This Sheffield screening is a rare opportunity for the public to see extracts from the collection, with expert introductions and commentary from Dr Toulmin and Patrick Russell, Keeper of Non Fiction at the bfi. Films screened here will not be seen again in public for more than three years.

The University of Sheffield screening, in the Union of Students Auditorium at 7.30 pm on 13 July, will be introduced by David Pierce, Curator of the bfi's National Film and Television Archive. Tickets at £5/£4 concessions are on sale to the public from the Union of Students box office (0114 222 8777) from Friday 28 June.

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