Last night the Vancouver Historical Society unveiled its latest contribution to the keepsake box that is Vancouver, namely the much-anticipated City Reflections film.
The 52-minute documentary debuted to invited guests at the Fletcher Challenge Canada Theatre in the Simon Fraser University Downtown Campus at Harbour Centre exactly 101 years after Seattle film-maker William Harbeck mounted a hand-cranked camera onto the front of a B.C. Electric Railway streetcar and recorded the downtown streets of 1907 Vancouver.
The original film, combined with the exhaustive research and production of the Vancouver Historical Society and an army of volunteers, make for an entertaining and immensely fascinating look into the Vancouver that was, how it came to be the Vancouver it is, and hints at the Vancouver to come.
The film will be shown to VHS Members and the public on May 22, 2008 at 8:00pm at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (in other words, go to the Vancouver Museum, that place with the big crab sculpture).
Some interesting tidbits: The Harbeck film is the earliest known film of Vancouver. It was lost for about 80 years and discovered around 15 years ago in Australia. Because of an incorrect title frame, it was originally thought to be of Hobart, Tasmania. There is exactly one car in the entire six-minute film. The film-maker, Harbeck, died on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.
About the William Harbeck film of 1907 Vancouver.
Georgia Straight article about the May, 2007 filming.
Some info from the BC150 website.
Northern Stars article about the City Reflections project.
re:place Magazine article on the film.
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