We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

This film is part of Free

Title of error

See Help

Villenour. (French India: Territory of Pondicherry)

Gorgeously dreamlike colour images of (then) French India – present-day Puducherry

Travelogue 1914 4 mins Silent

Overview

These gorgeous stencil-coloured images of French India – present-day Puducherry – have a dreamlike quality. The arrival of a well-to-do European family, dutifully attended to by the locals, gives a semblance of narrative to what is largely a purely picturesque escapist experience - transporting Western viewers to an out-of-time 'exotic' netherworld.

This was a French production but like many of the travel films so popular in early cinema it travelled widely itself – hence this version with English language titles.

Original title

VILLENOUR. (FRENCH INDIA: TERRITORY OF PONDICHERRY)

Genres

Travelogue

Country

France

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

British Raj Temples Colonial life Hinduism Street scenes Horse-drawn transport Carts Oxen India

Watch for free

Uti 1925 Uti 1925

Amateur film 1925 15 mins Silent

Snapshots of colonial life around Tamil Nadu, plus a visit to the Toda tribe

Watch for free

Sir John Laing Missionary Films Madras & Ceylon Sir John Laing Missionary Films Madras & Ceylon

Amateur film 1947 18 mins Silent

Rare amateur footage of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka

Watch for free

Houseboating in Waltair Houseboating in Waltair

Amateur film 1926 13 mins Silent

The Uzielli family takes to the water in Visakhapatnam, southern India

Watch for free

Dancers at Trivandrum Gopinath Dancers at Trivandrum Gopinath

Amateur film 1946 7 mins Silent

Kathakali performance featuring the great Indian dancer Guru Gopinath, filmed in remarkable colour by ‘envoy of the Raj’ Clarmont Skrine

Watch for free

Cochin and Malarax Cochin and Malarax

Amateur film 1930 18 mins Silent

Amateur film capturing life and buildings in and around Kochi, in Kerala, south-west India.

Watch for free

Street Scenes in India: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 1 Street Scenes in India: Colonel Alexander Personal Film 1

Amateur film 1935 9 mins Silent

From the arrival of a new viceroy to street markets, this amateur film captures the diversity of life in colonial India

Watch for free

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Watch for free

Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.