A Look into the Past
A lively video that shows a lively street scene in Jerusalem from 1897 has triggered both fascination and skepticism. The clip, which seems to show the Jaffa Gate, shows people who go through the frame in full color. An opposite image search shows that the original film material from 1897 was improved by color coloring, and with the help of artificial intelligence, additional sound that was not present may have been added.
How Real Film Material is Discredited
Despite its understandable origins, the currently circulating video blurred the border between real and artificial. While nobody who shares or comments on the clip necessarily spreads misinformation, the improvements – coloring devices, added sound and movement correction – raise questions about authenticity. The original black and white film material from 1897 was improved by color coloring, and with the help of artificial intelligence, additional sound that was not present may have been added.
The Double-Edged Sword of Digital Restoration
The stimulus of colored historical film material is not new. In 2018, New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson used similar techniques to produce a documentary with restored and colored film material from the First World War. However, AI was also abused – for example, to create invented pictures of Auschwitz and distort the historical memory of the Holocaust. This raises a critical problem: the risk of circulating fake content under the guise of authenticity.
The Birth of Global Cinema
The debate about the video also aroused curiosity: was it possible to film at all in 1897? Auguste and Louis Lumiere were pioneers of early cinemas. In 1895 they developed the Cinematographe, a portable camera and projector system that revolutionized movement picture technology. After their first success, the brothers sent the operators all over the world. For some time it remained unclear who filmed the legendary scene at Jaffa Gate in the 1890s, but certain sources call Alexandre Promio as the operator who shot the film on behalf of the film company Lumiere Brothers.
The History of Moving Images
While filmmaking in the modern sense was not yet possible at this time, the history of the moving images extends further than many Internet users recognize. The Lumiere brothers submitted patents for their invention in several countries, including Germany. They began to travel through North Africa and the Middle East and shot their own films, including the one of the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, which is aligned with the proposed date of recording from April 1897. The film material was part of a short film entitled "Jerusalem, Porte de Jaffa, Cote is" ("Jaffa Gate East Side"), and it was confirmed by Michael Allan, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Oregon, who has devoted himself to the exact period of cinematic history.
