The History of a Butterfly: A Romance of Insect Life
HomePage
Overview
Directed by one of the pioneers of the cinematic industry, James Williamson, The History of a Butterfly - A Romance of Insect Life is an intriguing look at the life cycles of butterflies and moths. Caterpillars are seen hatching, feeding and ready for pupation and with three caterpillars changing into chrysalis and the birth of a peacock butterfly, this black and white silent film is an early example of British natural history filmmaking.
Release Date
1910-06-03
Average
5
Rating:
2.5 startsTagline
Genres
Languages:
No LanguageKeywords
Similar Movies
Elephant Whisperer(en)
Sangduen Chailert, or Lek, as she is generally known, has already rescued over 200 elephants. She has dedicated her life to saving the Asian elephant and founded a special camp, The Elephant Nature Park to protect them. We follow this winner of Time Magazine’s “Asian Hero of the Year” Award in her work. Lek is on a mission to save the Asian elephant in her native Thailand. This film looks at the plight of the Asian elephant, as it goes from being a widely used domestic animal, to becoming a burden on modernizing communities. With experts predicting its extinction within four decades, Lek’s work is needed now more than ever and she has gathered a large group of supporters and volunteers in her quest for a better future for the Asian elephant. This moving film demonstrates Lek’s natural understanding of and rapport with these huge animals and will stir the viewers emotions as it highlights the often desperate state some elephants are kept in.
Days of Thrills and Laughter(en)
An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.
Amazing Journeys(en)
By land, by air, and by sea, viewers can now experience the struggle that millions of creatures endure in the name of migration as wildlife photographers show just how deeply survival instincts have become ingrained into to the animals of planet Earth. From the monarch butterflies that swarm the highlands of Mexico to the birds who navigate by the stars and the millions of red crabs who make the perilous land journey across Christmas Island, this release offers a look at animal instinct in it's purest form.
Nanook of the North(en)
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Grizzly Man(en)
Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
Snake Man(fr)
It is with an old bus an about thirty snakes that Franz Florez struggles for the preservation of nature in Colombia, one of the most environmentally diverse country in the world. His snakes are his pass to enter the deep jungle, where guerrillas fight the regular army and where narco-traffickers meet coca growers. Facing the threat of the industrial exploitation of these preserved areas, he tries to gather support among the population, including the armed actors.
Wild Birds in Their Haunts(fr)
The picture shows various kinds of birds in their natural environments, and in their natural colors, and at such close range that the very eyes of the little fledglings in the nest are easily discerned. Every feather seems distinct and the birds seem to be in such relief that it appears as though one could almost reach out and catch them.
Raising Joey(en)
The fires that have devastated Australia left behind countless injured and orphaned animals. This is the story of rescued joeys and their adoption by human carers. World-renowned animal photographer and advocate for rescued animals, Alex Cearns OAM, leads us into the quirky world of kangaroo care in this heart-warming journey that sheds light on the work of Wildlife Care WA Inc.
Microcosmos(fr)
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Laos from Above(en)
The Lanexang Kingdom country has been divided into three Kingdoms: the Vientiane Kingdom, the Luang Prabang Kingdom, and the Champasak Kingdom. Each of these three has developed its capital city into great cornerstones of the nation of Laos. Explore these three old capitals and other unique areas of Laos from breathtaking heights, such as Xiengkouang, where the scars of the war remain.
Broken Fall (Organic)(en)
Bas Jan Ader hangs from the branch of a tall tree, until he loses his grip and falls into a river below.
Railway Station(pl)
Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.
Spirit of the Mountains(hi)
The charismatic Snow Leopard is the least understood of all the big cats and one of the most challenging to film. Over a period of five years, veteran Indian wildlife filmmakers, Naresh and Rajesh Bedi endured extreme cold and the thin air of the Himalayas in their daunting quest to reveal the secret lives of these elusive predators, ultimately with great success.
Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives and Magic(de)
The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City(de)
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
Blue Whales: Return of the Giants(en)
Blue Whales: Return of the Giants 3D takes viewers on a journey of a lifetime to explore the world of the magnificent blue whale, a species rebounding from the brink of extinction. Following two scientific expeditions—one to find a missing population of blues off the exotic Seychelles Islands, the other to chronicle whale families in Mexico’s stunning Gulf of California—the film is an inspirational story that transforms our understanding of the largest animal ever to have lived.
Recommendations Movies
Dancing with the Birds(en)
Some of the world's most majestic birds display delightfully captivating mating rituals, from flashy dancing to flaunting their colorful feathers.
Our Planet: Behind the Scenes(en)
Years spent recording footage of creatures from every corner of the globe is bound to produce a bit of drama. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.
Bukowski: Born Into This(en)
Director John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski, Bukowski: Born Into This, is as much a touching portrait of the author as it is an exposé of his sordid lifestyle. Interspersed between ample vintage footage of Bukowski’s poetry readings are interviews with the poet’s fans including such legendary figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Fante (wife of John), Bono, and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in grainy black and white by Bukowski’s friend, Taylor Hackford, due to lack of funding, the old films edited into this movie paint Bukowski’s life of boozing and brawling romantically, securing Bukowski’s legendary status.
Capturing Avatar(en)
Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.
Pandas(en)
In the mountains of Sichuan, China, a researcher forms a bond with Qian Qian, a panda who is about to experience nature for the first time.
Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear(en)
Explore the evolution of Buzz Lightyear from toy to human in the making of Pixar’s Lightyear. Dive into the origin and cultural impact of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, the art of designing a new “human Buzz,” and the challenges faced by the Lightyear crew along the way.
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead(en)
As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.
One Soldier's Story: The Journey of American Sniper(en)
Join director Clint Eastwood and his creative team, along with Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, as they overcome enormous creative and logistic obstacles to make a film that brings the truth of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's story to the screen.
Interstellar: Nolan's Odyssey(en)
A look behind the lens of Christopher Nolan's space epic.
Cameraperson(en)
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Naqoyqatsi(en)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Heart of a Dog(en)
Lyrical and powerfully personal essay film that reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.
Seduced and Abandoned(en)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
Powaqqatsi(en)
An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
Destino(en)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream(en)
Life Is But a Dream is a HBO documentary about the life of US singer Beyoncé Knowles during the years 2011 and 2012 and on the recording of her fifth album. The film was directed by Beyoncé herself. The film shows Beyoncé from intimate moments of her pregnancy to behind the scenes and rehearsals of the main concerts of that time.
The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story(en)
A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.
