Tassilo Adam

In 2018, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acquired a collection of 31 reels of original nitrate film by Tassilo Adam from Gartenberg Media Enterprises. Adam was the official ethnographer for the Dutch government of the East Indies, as well as a professional photographer. His moving image footage shows a considerably more sophisticated vision of the Dutch East Indies in the 1920s than other films of the period.

GME unearthed this collection of footage by Adam in a storage warehouse, then catalogued and researched the history and provenance of this rare footage. Subsequently, GME identified the NFSA as the long term archival repository for this unique and valuable moving image collection that represents the inflection point of Indigenous peoples with Colonial culture.

Above, view rare footage Adam filmed with the cooperation of the Royal authorities, who staged processions, gatherings, and rituals for his camera. A number of these stagings included representations of animals through dance.