The Weavers (1905 film)

15-second clip showing the 114-year-old Despina Manaki spinning.

The Weavers[1] or Grandmother Despina is a short silent, black and white documentary film made in 1905 by the Balkan film pioneers the Manaki brothers in the small Aromanian village of Avdella (Aromanian: Avdhela), in the Ottoman vilayet of Monastir presently modern Greece. It is about 60 seconds long and depicts the Manakis' aunts and 114-year-old grandmother Despina spinning and weaving.[2][3][4] It was originally called "Our 114-year-old grandmother at work weaving", but has come to be known as The Weavers.[5]

It is believed to be the first film shot anywhere in the Ottoman Balkans.[6]

The film was shot with 35 mm film with an Urban Bioscope movie camera (serial number 300) imported from London.[6]

  1. ^ Cinema and Classical Texts: Apollo's New Light, Martin M. Winkler, Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 0521518601, p. 71.
  2. ^ Zacharia, p. 323
  3. ^ Balkan border crossings: First annual of the Konitsa Summer School, Vasilēs G. Nitsiakos, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, ISBN 3825809188, pp. 41–42.
  4. ^ Hellenisms: culture, identity, and ethnicity from antiquity to modernity, Katerina Zacharia, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, ISBN 0754665259, p. 323.
  5. ^ Filmland Griechenland – Terra incognita: griechische, Elene Psoma, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2008, ISBN 3832516182, S. 23. (Ger.)
  6. ^ a b Vecer Online – One century of the Macedonian seventh art. (Mk.)