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    ‘Human might, majesty and mayhem’: a visual time capsule from 1965

    In A Trip Down Memory Lane, the Canadian avant-garde filmmaker Arthur Lipsett uses newsreel footage covering 50 years to unleash a flurry of previously unrelated images – women in a beauty pageant, a scientific demonstration, an automobile catching fire – combined for unsettling and satirical effect. Created in 1965 as a ‘time capsule’, Lipsett’s collage film serves both as a glimpse into the dramatically different yet not-so-distant past, and as a peculiarly incisive exploration of what its producer, the National Film Board of Canada, calls ‘human might, majesty and mayhem’.

    Director: Arthur Lipsett

    Producer: Donald Brittain

    Website: National Film Board of Canada

    13 August 2015
    Abstract colourful image resembling fireworks with pink, red, blue, and green bursts on a dark background.

    videoFilm and visual culture

    A Palme d’Or-winning animation toys with the way our eyes perceive light

    5 minutes

    Illustration of two people in traditional Arctic clothing facing a futuristic city with glowing lights under the aurora borealis in the night sky.

    videoAnthropology

    A riveting collage portrays a century of Inuit history, and envisions a vibrant future

    14 minutes

    Woman in green top walking down a city street, with shops and other pedestrians in the background.

    videoNature and landscape

    From canoes to cities, a frenetic celebration of the power of indigenous Canadians

    4 minutes

    Painting of a red lizard and a green spiked creature depicted through dots with a black background.

    videoFilm and visual culture

    It’s a beautiful, brutal life in this award-winning animation from 1977

    6 minutes

    A vintage photo of a blonde woman and child running on a beach, the woman is wearing white shorts, the child wears red and white trunks.

    videoBiography and memoir

    Do we need our memories when we can document virtually every aspect of our lives?

    10 minutes

    Black-and-white photo of firefighters in silhouette spraying water at a burning building at night, with flames and smoke in the background.

    videoHistory of technology

    Remarkable historical footage is locked behind paywalls. It’s time to set it free

    4 minutes

    A group of men in formal attire sit at a long table, eating from bowls in a patterned room with numerous empty wine glasses.

    videoFood and drink

    Is a ‘gastronomic society’ dinner the height of decadence, or an act of artistry?

    11 minutes

    Close-up view of bubbling liquid of a golden brown colour with reflections of light on its surface.

    videoChemistry

    Dramatic close-ups capture something percolating and exploding – but what is it?

    5 minutes

    Close-up of a man smiling and interacting closely with a puppet of an old man wearing a black beret, both faces nearly touching.

    videoArt

    A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size

    5 minutes