Mitchell and Kenyon Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Mitchell and Kenyon was a late Victorian and Edwardian film company based in Blackburn in Lancashire - hitherto best known for minor contributions to early fictional narrative film and for fake Boer War films. The Mitchell and Kenyon Collection, however, consists almost entirely of actuality films commissioned by travelling cinematograph operators for showing at local fairgrounds or other venues across the UK. These films can be seen to be as important in their national context as Auguste and Louis Lumières' are in France or Thomas Edison's are in the USAThe Collection was stored for many decades in two large barrels following the winding-up of the firm, and was discovered in Blackburn in the early 1990s by local businessman and historian Peter Worden. The Peter Worden Collection of Mitchell and Kenyon Films has now been preserved by staff at British Film Institute's National Film and Television Archive, using painstaking film preservation techniques.
The Collection consists of street and transport scenes, and local manifestations of national events such as Boer War demobilisation, sporting events, parades, local industries – above all, ordinary people in everyday situations. The Collection offers an unparalleled social record of early 20th Century British life.
The University of Sheffield's National Fairground Archive and the British Film Institute were awarded a three year research grant by the Arts and Humanities Research Board to research, identify and contextualise the 800 plus films. This has culminated in a collection of essays The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Britain on Film, edited by Vanessa Toulmin, Simon Popple and Patrick Russell and published by the bfi in October 2004. Other releases will include a annotated filmography and a DVD of highlights from the Collection in 2005.
A prime-time three-part series about the Mitchell and Kenyon Collection is to be screened on the BBC in early 2005.
http://www.shef.ac.uk/nfa/mitchell_and_kenyon/index.php
http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/mk/ This is an Article on Mitchell and Kenyon. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Mitchell and Kenyon External Links