Having finished up business making trick films for Pathé--the genre itself having become a passing fad since 1906--director Segundo de Chomón had only one other genre of film to resort to: travelogues, the only other thing he had been trained in since the beginning of his career with the company. Because the Spanish director was born in Barcelona, all of the numerous travelogues he produced during that year, as well as the years 1901-1904, were views of that city in Spain--made to make money off of showing the French public images of this foreign country many of them had never gone to. Travelogues by director Chomón include "L'antique Tolede" (1912), "Barcelone et son parc" (1911), and "Burgos" (1911).

This one was distributed in America by the General Film Company and is a series of views of Girona, a Spanish city reminiscent to Venice. In the three minute film, the viewer is treated to glimpses of the title location, starting with scenes of the streets and beautiful architecture, and later progressing to show views of the countryside including a lake. The views themselves are interesting historically, although the film is for the most part devoid of actual movement in frames and causes it to be viewed more like a set of photographs than a movie. For me, it's questionable as to why Chomón wasted film on it rather than just taking pictures to be viewed as a slideshow, since such things were probably still done as distractions in the cinemas. Nonetheless, and despite stationary camerawork, it is a well-made travelogue for the period and particularly worth viewing for historians.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Gerone, the Venice of Spain

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