Opiové doupě

synopsis

Two men lie in an opium den, their stillness contrasting sharply with the movement characteristic of most early films. The seemingly intimate space is exposed to the gaze of a European cameraman. The film reveals not only the scene it captures but also the period’s fascination with an exoticised image of the East.

biography

Gabriel Veyre (1871–1936), a French pharmacist, photographer and cinematographer for the Lumière company, filmed in Mexico, the Caribbean, Japan, China and French Indochina. His films combine travelogue observation with staged scenes, while also revealing how early cinema shaped the European view of the world.

film details

director:

Gabriel Veyre