Lyrical Nitrate

Lyrical Nitrate (Dutch: Lyrisch Nitraat)^[1] is a 1991 collage film by Peter Delpeut.^[2]

Summary

The film consists of clips from various silent films printed on decaying nitrate film stock, including shorts, documentaries, and travelogues.^[3] There is no formal narrative.^[4] Delpeut followed the film with 1993's The Forbidden Quest, which also uses found footage; the two were released together on video and DVD.^[5]

Production

The films were drawn from the Desmet Collection of the Nederlands Filmmuseum (Eye Filmmuseum), where Delpeut worked as deputy director for a decade.^[6] Jean Desmet (1875–1956) was an early Dutch film distributor. After Desmet's death a cache of film prints was discovered in the attic of a theater he owned in Amsterdam, and subsequently added to the museum's collection.^[3][7]

See also

• Decasia, a similar non-narrative, found-footage film.
• The Forbidden Quest, Delpeut's unofficial sequel to Lyrical Nitrate.
• Lost film