Turksib & Night Mail

Turksib (1929) Dir. Victor A. Turin

With bold and exhilarating flair, Turksib charts the monumental efforts to build a railway linking the regions of Turkestan and Siberia in 1920s USSR. Director Viktor Turin utilised the signature Soviet montage to craft his portrayal of the battle the builders waged with the desert and the mountains blocking their way. Turksib is a testament to the power of modern engineering strength conquering the natural world and a striking example of 1920’s Soviet filmmaking.

Night Mail (1936) Dir. Harry Watt & Basil Wright
An iconic British documentary, Night Mail is a lyrical look at postal workers on the Royal Mail train delivery service. Made by the GPO Film Unit, the film is as much about the movement of mail and delivery of letters as it is a reflection on how Britain is socially, economically and technologically bound together.  Featuring now famous words by W. H. Auden and a score by Benjamin Britten, it has become synonymous with the ground-breaking work of the British Documentary Film Movement of the 1930s and 1940s.