Animalomania - a project by author, filmmaker and film theorist Eric de Kuyper - is part of the ‘Imagination in context’ series. It is also the title of a book with illustrations by J.J. Grandville that was published in 1836. This wonderful satirist was continuing a tradition which goes back in literature via Jean de la Fontaine to Greek and Latin antiquity (Phaedrus, Aesop) and which is perpetuated today by the products of Walt Disney and co. The zoomorphic caricature, the physical and emotional similarities between man and beast were – and still are – an endless source of endearment, horror and amusement.

The films on which the ‘Imagination in context’ series is based all date from before World War I and have no place in modernity – an opinion shared by the first film enthusiasts from the 1920s who, in their post-war context, were unable to appreciate this cinema from another century. ‘Imagination in context’ takes the exact opposite approach by appreciating the films within their context and by placing them within the aesthetics and mentality of a century to which they are much better suited.

This dvd is an initiative of the Vlaamse Dienst voor Filmcultuur (VDFC) in collaboration with the Royal Belgian Film Archive.

Martyrs Chrétiens
Christian Martyrs
(Lucien Nonguet, 1905, 6' 46")

Chasse au lion
Hunting lions
[from Hunting in Abissinia]
(Hyacinthe Pirmez & Dupain, 1908-1909, 6')

Chasse à la panthère
Hunting the panter
(Alfred Machin, 1909, 7' 06")

Little Moritz chasse les grands fauves
Little Moritz hunts big cats
(Alfred Machin, 1902, 11' 45")

L’actrice Arlette Dorgère présente la nouvelle mode dans un salon
The actress Arlette Dorgère presents the latest fashion at a showroom
(Anon., 1913, 1' 21")

L’actrice Arlette Dorgère présente la mode parisienne au cours d’une exposition canine, au Luxembourg
The actress Arlette Dorgère presents Parisian fashion at a dog show at the Luxembourg garden
(Anon., 1912, 1' 03")

Mademoiselle Varesca, de la Comédie Marigny, fait des essayages chez le fourreur Henri Vergne
Miss Varesca, from the Comédie Marigny theatre, tries on garments at furrier Henri Vergne
(Anon., 1913, 1' 20")

La protection des animaux
The protection of animals
(Anon., 1911, 35")

Stryekoza I Muravey
The grasshopper and the ant
(Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1911, 7' 25")

Fütterung von Riesenschlangen
Feeding boa constrictors
(Anon., 1911, 2' 33")

La chenille de la carotte
The caterpillar of the swallowtail butterfly
(Anon., 1911, 9' 51")

La peine du talion
Tit for tat
(Gaston Velle, 1906, 5' 19'')

Total playing time 61'
Silent films with original titles in English or French
Booklet English, Dutch
Regional code PAL (region free)