Dawson City: Frozen Time
Bill Morrison / US, 2016 / 120 min.
It was a bizarre discovery: in 1978 a bulldozer demolishing a swimming pool unearthed a cache of film reels that lay buried under the permafrost in Dawson City, Canada. More than 500 nitrate reels from the early 1900s were salvaged. Back then Dawson City was the centre of the Klondike Gold Rush that drew some 100,000 gold prospectors to the area. It was also the last stop for films and newsreels that were screened in the region, but were seldom or never returned to the distributors.
Filmmaker Bill Morrison (Decasia) interweaves the mesmerizing tale of this silent film treasure trove with the tragic story of the expulsion of the native population at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. Old newsreels about major world events alternate with haunting scenes from the dawn of Hollywood cinema. The mysterious soundtrack is by Alex Somers (Sigur Rós).
This is part of
Details
Director
Bill Morrison
Production year
2016
Country
US
Original title
Dawson City: Frozen Time
Length
120 min.
Language
English
Subtitles
NONE
Format
35mm, DCP
Part of
Previously Unreleased
Screened at prominent national and international festivals, yet never released in Dutch cinemas. Quite unjustly so, Eye Filmmuseum thinks, and so it has once again brought an exceptional selection of films from international festivals to the Netherlands.
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