They Act Like Magic

Prize-winning amateur film about the fleeting affair between a housewife and a young man on a summer day.

Silly silent film fun and thrills abound in this award-winning 1954 amateur short spoofing the world of Hollywood trailers.

A young angel scours London for her wings in this tender short by the young Ken Russell.

Knitting comes in handy when making a film – a comical take on amateur filmmaking by the ladies of a local Pinner film club

Tired little Jocelyn, in her National Health specs, falls asleep in the garden and wakes up in Wonderland in this amateur re-telling of Lewis Carroll's classic.

A young magician impresses his sister by making a dog appear from under a bucket, and by demonstrating the magic of film itself.

Thrilling pirate adventure made by a preparatory schoolmaster and starring some of his schoolchildren, who apprehend dangerous smugglers.

At a Norfolk country house Ingoldisthorpe villagers enjoy a fancy dress costumed garden party and tea dance at the annual Summer Fete, in 1938.

Snakes, lizards, squirrels, birds, crabs - schoolchildren go on a nature trail searching village and coast for all kinds of wildlife.

A bumbling vicar steals the scene in this short chase film; a silent comedy set in a Norfolk village, featuring many of the villagers.

The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.

Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.

Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.

Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.

A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.

Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.