WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 If you've ever assumed that a profoundly important 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:05.620 piece of lost history has to be buried at the 00:00:05.620 --> 00:00:07.919 bottom of the ocean in some shipwreck. Right. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.259 Or sealed away in a collapsed military bunker 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:14.400 somewhere. Exactly. Well, today's deep dive is 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.899 going to completely upend how you think about 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.559 the survival of historical artifacts. I mean, 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:23.239 imagine holding a physical window into a critical, 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:26.280 brutal moment in time. A literal document capturing 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.429 the raw reality of a war. Yeah. and shot by some 00:00:29.429 --> 00:00:31.910 of the greatest visual artists of the 20th century. 00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:34.929 But now imagine that this incredibly important 00:00:34.929 --> 00:00:40.070 artifact just vanishes. Completely disappears 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:42.609 from the historical record. For over 70 years. 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:45.039 You'd think you would need an army of archaeologists 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.939 to unearth it. But when this totally lost artifact 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:50.600 was finally discovered, it wasn't in some hidden 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:52.960 high -tech vault. No, not at all. It was just 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.119 hiding in plain sight, literally sitting on a 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:57.640 shelf in a standard everyday administrative office. 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.899 It's wild. It really forces a complete recalibration 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.179 of how we view the curation and preservation 00:01:03.179 --> 00:01:05.420 of our own history. Oh, absolutely. We operate 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:07.500 under this comforting assumption that, you know, 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:09.700 culturally significant items are always treated 00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:12.799 with reverence. That they're instantly recognized 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:14.879 and carefully protected behind museum glass. 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:16.560 Right, like someone always knows what they are. 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.980 But the reality of historical preservation is... 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:22.260 It's often incredibly messy, it's accidental, 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.480 and it's completely reliant on the most mundane 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:27.920 circumstances you can possibly imagine. Which 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.280 is exactly why we are so excited to bring you 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:32.439 along on this journey today. We have a fascinating 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:35.120 stack of material concerning a highly specific, 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:38.599 truly remarkable artifact from 1938. A really 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.099 unique piece of media. Yeah, it perfectly bridges 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:44.060 the gap between high art, the visceral tragedy 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:47.200 of war, and, well, urgent grassroots activism. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.280 We're talking about an 18 -minute black -and 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:53.180 -white silent documentary film. Released under 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:55.760 the English title with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.060 in Spain. Yes, alongside its French title, Avec 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:02.359 la Brigade Abraham Lincoln en España. As the 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:05.560 title explicitly suggests, it documents the involvement 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.639 of the Lincoln Brigade, which were American volunteers 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:10.979 fighting during the Spanish Civil War. Okay. 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:13.800 Let's unpack this because before we can even 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.919 get into the staggering story of how this physical 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:20.659 film managed to slip through the cracks of history 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:24.659 for over seven decades, we have to look at what 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:28.060 this 18 minute reel actually is. Right. Because 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:30.379 it's not normal. No, the composition of this 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:33.340 documentary is highly unconventional. This wasn't 00:02:33.340 --> 00:02:36.099 a standard Hollywood production. No studio backing. 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:39.189 Exactly. You didn't have a single director sitting 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:42.250 in a canvas chair shouting, action, while a unified 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:44.770 crew captured a scripted scene. Far from it, 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.689 actually. The directing team is listed as Henri 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:50.479 Cartier -Bresson and Herbert Klein. Which, I 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:52.259 mean, that is already a powerhouse pairing. It 00:02:52.259 --> 00:02:54.680 really is. But the actual footage, like the visual 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:57.379 DNA of the film itself, is a combination of work 00:02:57.379 --> 00:02:59.419 from multiple drastically different sources. 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:01.819 You have footage shot directly by both Cartier 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:03.599 -Bresson and Klein on the front lines. Right. 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:06.800 But then they actively integrated newsreel material 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.400 shot by the legendary war photographer Robert 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.039 Capa. And then alongside that, even more front 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.120 line footage contributed by a fourth individual, 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:16.419 Jacques Lemaire. What's fascinating here is that 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:19.360 the final product isn't a traditional single 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.259 perspective narrative. You are looking at a literal 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:26.479 mosaic of visual reporting. A mosaic is a great 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.680 way to put it. Yeah, because you have four distinct 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:31.319 contributors, all operating with totally different 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.840 instincts, and they're pooling their visual evidence 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:36.780 to create a cohesive document. Cartier -Bresson, 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.360 for instance, is historically known for his geometric 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:41.460 composition. His eye for the human element, right? 00:03:41.460 --> 00:03:43.580 Exactly, the decisive moment just outside the 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:45.979 immediate blast radius. But then you contrast 00:03:45.979 --> 00:03:48.520 that with Robert Capa. His entire philosophy 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:51.759 was about getting as close to the visceral, terrifying 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.840 reality of combat as humanly possible. So his 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:57.439 newsreel footage brings this gritty, kinetic 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.139 chaos to the film. Yes. And then Klein and Lamar 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.840 provide the connective tissue. They are piecing 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.219 together a comprehensive reality of the Spanish 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:08.460 Civil War from these wildly different visual 00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:10.539 fragments. It's basically the ultimate group 00:04:10.539 --> 00:04:13.060 project, but you know with life or death stakes. 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:15.819 You have these four distinct artists all with 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:18.540 their own eyes, their own aesthetic philosophies, 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:20.660 and they are bringing all these distinct pieces 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:24.360 together to build one singular urgent message. 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.000 It's a massive collaborative effort. But um... 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:29.660 I actually have to push back on the mechanics 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:31.860 of this a little bit. OK, go for it. If you have 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:34.759 four different people shooting footage, some 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:37.680 of it contemplative documentary footage, some 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:41.279 of it chaotic newsreel combat material like Kappa 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:45.129 stuff, how does an 18 minute silent film keep 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:47.649 from becoming just an incomprehensible chaotic 00:04:47.649 --> 00:04:50.089 mess. That's a very fair question. I mean, without 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:52.329 a voiceover narration to guide the audience, 00:04:52.689 --> 00:04:54.790 and without a single unified director controlling 00:04:54.790 --> 00:04:57.790 the lighting and blocking of every frame, how 00:04:57.790 --> 00:04:59.930 does it maintain any sort of clear narrative 00:04:59.930 --> 00:05:02.470 focus? Well, that is the fundamental challenge 00:05:02.470 --> 00:05:04.790 of silent documentary editing. And the answer 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:07.829 lies entirely in how they wielded the sheer overwhelming 00:05:07.829 --> 00:05:10.029 urgency of the subject matter. So it's about 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:13.459 the feeling, not the plot. Exactly. The focus 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:16.459 isn't maintained by a rigid three -act cinematic 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:19.740 script. It is maintained through emotional juxtaposition. 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:23.060 The editors had to rely purely on the thematic 00:05:23.060 --> 00:05:25.379 collision of images. Can you give an example 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.399 of that? Sure. You might cut from Campa's chaotic, 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:31.480 dust -choked footage of soldiers under fire and 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.740 go directly to Cartier -Bresson's quiet, devastating 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:37.319 shot of a civilian reacting to the destruction 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:40.079 of their home. Oh, wow. That's a harsh contrast. 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:43.139 It is. The shared reality of the Spanish Civil 00:05:43.139 --> 00:05:45.439 War and the specific focus on the volunteers 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.199 of the Lincoln Brigade acted as the unifying 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.319 blue. These contributors weren't trying to showcase 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:53.740 their individual artistic flair. They were putting 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.459 their egos aside. Yes, actively subordinating 00:05:56.459 --> 00:05:58.680 their individual egos and their distinct visual 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:02.399 styles to a much larger, immediate cause. Every 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:04.720 single frame was selected and placed in a specific 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:08.220 order to elicit a very specific, undeniable emotional 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:10.939 response from the viewer. And that leads us directly 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:13.720 to the real driving force behind the film's creation. 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:16.740 Because looking at the sheer logistical effort 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:19.779 required to stitch this mosaic together, it's 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:22.300 clear this documentary was absolutely not made 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:24.540 for traditional cinematic glory. Not at all. 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:26.899 Cartier, Bresson, and Klein weren't aiming for 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:29.879 a glamorous premiere in a giant movie palace 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:33.019 with like a red carpet and velvet ropes. This 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:36.819 film was conceived and deployed as a highly specific 00:06:36.819 --> 00:06:40.079 tactical tool for a very urgent mission. Right, 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.000 the ultimate driving purpose of With the Abraham 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:45.329 Lincoln Brigade. in Spain was strictly financial. 00:06:45.569 --> 00:06:47.569 It was created to raise money. But not for a 00:06:47.569 --> 00:06:50.199 Hollywood studio. No. crucially not to turn a 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:52.660 profit. The funds generated by this film were 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:55.420 explicitly urgently meant to help wounded volunteers 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:57.420 from the International Brigades return home from 00:06:57.420 --> 00:06:59.600 the Spanish Civil War. So it was an immediate 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.360 plea for logistical and medical relief. Exactly. 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:04.740 So what does this all mean for the actual audience 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:07.000 experience? Yeah. Because the physical format 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.379 they used to distribute this film is a massive 00:07:09.379 --> 00:07:12.699 part of why it was so effective and, well, ultimately 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:15.459 why it vanished. The format strategy is brilliant 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.639 in its utility. So, the documentary was initially 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.860 shot on 35mm film. Now, 35mm is your standard 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:26.399 professional theatrical gauge. It's what they 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:28.980 use in actual cinemas. Right. It provides a lush, 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:31.779 high quality image, but it's heavy. It requires 00:07:31.779 --> 00:07:34.740 massive, expensive projection equipment, and 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:37.220 it's meant for wide distribution in traditional 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:39.560 commercial entertainment venues. But they didn't 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:43.019 stick to 35 millimeter. No. The creators specifically 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:45.699 went out of their way to produce a 16 millimeter 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:47.980 version of the documentary. Which completely 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:49.819 strips away the glamour of commercial cinema. 00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:52.740 By dropping down to 16 millimeter, you're weaponizing 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:54.579 the film for portability. Yes. You're taking 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:56.680 it out of the massive movie palace and bringing 00:07:56.680 --> 00:07:59.300 it directly to the community level. The sources 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:02.160 show that this 16 millimeter version was produced 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.720 specifically to be shown in union halls and local 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.660 clubs. You literally just need a guy with a portable 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:10.180 projector case and a white sheet hung up on a 00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:12.240 wall. It's the definition of grassroots media, 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:15.699 a tool for direct immediate action. Exactly. 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.420 You set up this clanking projector in a local 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:22.360 union hall. You show this stark, silent, 18 minute 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:25.860 mosaic of a brutal war featuring fellow working 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:28.329 class volunteers. And as soon as the screen goes 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:30.949 dark, you immediately pass the hat to raise money 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:33.629 for the wounded soldiers they just watched. You're 00:08:33.629 --> 00:08:35.690 hitting on the core psychological brilliance 00:08:35.690 --> 00:08:38.629 of that format shift. The emotional weight of 00:08:38.629 --> 00:08:41.950 that specific viewing context cannot be overstated. 00:08:42.269 --> 00:08:45.070 No, it can't. By bringing the film into a union 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.629 hall, the filmmakers completely dismantled the 00:08:47.629 --> 00:08:49.809 protective barrier that usually exists between 00:08:49.809 --> 00:08:52.730 a cinema audience and the silver screen. I want 00:08:52.730 --> 00:08:54.909 to dig into that barrier a bit because the shift 00:08:54.909 --> 00:08:58.629 from 35 millimeters in a to 16 millimeter in 00:08:58.629 --> 00:09:02.210 a union hall, it fundamentally changes the actual 00:09:02.210 --> 00:09:04.330 physical relationship the audience has with the 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:06.230 media. How so? Think about live music. If you 00:09:06.230 --> 00:09:08.889 go see a massive rock band play at a giant stadium 00:09:08.889 --> 00:09:11.169 concert, there's an inherent distance there. 00:09:11.350 --> 00:09:12.730 You bought a ticket, you were sitting in the 00:09:12.730 --> 00:09:14.950 dark, and you were passively consuming a spectacle. 00:09:15.549 --> 00:09:17.250 The transaction is complete. Right, you're just 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:20.629 an observer. But if you see that exact same band 00:09:20.629 --> 00:09:23.629 play an intimate, stripped down acoustic set 00:09:23.629 --> 00:09:26.649 in the back room of your local pub, The relationship 00:09:26.649 --> 00:09:28.669 is entirely different. You're breathing the same 00:09:28.669 --> 00:09:31.210 air. That's a great analogy. If the singer mentions 00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:33.289 they need gas money to get to the next town and 00:09:33.289 --> 00:09:36.389 points to a tip jar on the bar, you feel a deep, 00:09:36.690 --> 00:09:39.409 personal, social obligation to put a dollar in. 00:09:40.230 --> 00:09:42.289 You aren't just an audience member anymore. You 00:09:42.289 --> 00:09:45.450 are a participant. Did the 16 millimeter format 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:47.970 do that for the Spanish Civil War? That acoustic 00:09:47.970 --> 00:09:50.450 pub set analogy perfectly captures the social 00:09:50.450 --> 00:09:53.690 mechanics at play here. Yes, absolutely. When 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:56.649 you show a 35 -millimeter film in a grand ornate 00:09:56.649 --> 00:09:59.090 theater, the audience expects to be entertained. 00:09:59.389 --> 00:10:01.090 They're insulated by the architecture of the 00:10:01.090 --> 00:10:03.169 cinema. But when you're sitting on a creaky folding 00:10:03.169 --> 00:10:05.690 chair in your local union hall... A space dedicated 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:08.610 to community and solidarity. Exactly. A space 00:10:08.610 --> 00:10:10.909 for the protection of your own livelihood. And 00:10:10.909 --> 00:10:13.389 you watch a 16 -millimeter projection of wounded 00:10:13.389 --> 00:10:16.370 volunteers... That insulation just evaporates. 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:19.110 The war is no longer an abstract geopolitical 00:10:19.110 --> 00:10:21.070 spectacle happening thousands of miles away. 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:23.610 It becomes an intimately local issue. Your neighbors 00:10:23.610 --> 00:10:25.529 are sitting right next to you watching you watch 00:10:25.529 --> 00:10:28.830 the film. The 16 millimeter projection creates 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:31.789 a communal intimacy that forces an immediate 00:10:31.789 --> 00:10:34.580 response. The filmmakers didn't just want the 00:10:34.580 --> 00:10:36.940 audience to feel bad. They wanted them to reach 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:39.000 into their pockets right then and there. It was 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.820 highly effective utilitarian filmmaking. But 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:44.500 that incredible grassroots utility was actually 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:46.960 a double -edged sword, wasn't it? Because the 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.460 film was treated as a functional tool, like a 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.639 hammer or a collection plate. Right. And once 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:56.039 the immediate moment in 1938 passed, once that 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.740 specific fundraising campaign was over and the 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:00.460 wounded volunteers were either brought home or 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:03.460 lost, nobody thought to preserve the tool itself. 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:05.960 The job was done. Yeah. And the physical film 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.000 just slipped right through the cracks of history. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.419 It went from being an urgent, life -saving piece 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:14.360 of media to literally vanishing for an astonishing 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.879 72 years. For decades, film historians, archivists, 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:20.080 and scholars of the Spanish Civil War believed 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.809 that... with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain, 00:11:23.850 --> 00:11:26.210 simply did not exist anymore in physical form. 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:28.429 It was officially classified as a lost film, 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:31.370 which is a tragically common fate for media from 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:34.669 that era, particularly grassroots 16 millimeter 00:11:34.669 --> 00:11:37.610 media that wasn't legally protected or physically 00:11:37.610 --> 00:11:40.210 vaulted by massive Hollywood studios. People 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:42.350 just assumed it had degraded, been thrown away 00:11:42.350 --> 00:11:45.210 or destroyed. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:48.330 though, because the film wasn't actually destroyed. 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:51.419 It didn't burn up in a warehouse fire, and it 00:11:51.419 --> 00:11:54.539 wasn't lost at sea. No, it wasn't. In 2010, a 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:57.460 curator named Juan Salas finally discovered a 00:11:57.460 --> 00:11:59.840 surviving print of the documentary, and he didn't 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.019 find it in some sealed, climate -controlled subterranean 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.559 archive in Europe. He found it in an office in 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:08.000 New York. Specifically, in the Administrative 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.940 Office of the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade. 00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:12.730 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:15.210 forces a profound realization about how much 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:17.149 of our global history is likely just sitting 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:19.370 around in entirely mundane environments. Oh, 00:12:19.389 --> 00:12:21.970 absolutely. We have this highly romanticized 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:25.070 cinematic idea of historical discovery. We picture 00:12:25.070 --> 00:12:27.629 archaeologists carefully sweeping sand off a 00:12:27.629 --> 00:12:30.590 tomb in the desert, or deep -sea divers illuminating 00:12:30.590 --> 00:12:33.129 the rusted hull of a sunken dreadnought. Like 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:36.070 Indiana Jones stuff. Exactly. But the reality 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:40.279 is often much more bureaucratic. Here, an incredibly 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:44.639 vital 1938 documentary featuring irreplaceable 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.100 frontline footage captured by world -renowned 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:50.100 figures like Cartier -Bresson and Coppa was just 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:52.460 sitting quietly in an administrative office. 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:54.879 Surrounded by filing cabinets and copy machines. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.039 I have to challenge this whole concept of a lost 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.100 film, though, because when archivists say lost, 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.360 they make it sound like it was buried under a 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.830 mountain. But it wasn't lost in that sense. It 00:13:05.830 --> 00:13:08.350 was in an office. Well, lost to the public record. 00:13:08.429 --> 00:13:10.570 But it's exactly like when you were frantically 00:13:10.570 --> 00:13:13.230 tearing your entire house apart searching for 00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:15.490 your glasses. You're stressed. You're looking 00:13:15.490 --> 00:13:17.529 under the couch cushions. You're convinced they 00:13:17.529 --> 00:13:19.629 are gone forever. Oh, I know that feeling. And 00:13:19.629 --> 00:13:21.769 then you walk past a hallway mirror and realize 00:13:21.769 --> 00:13:23.090 they've just been sitting on top of your head 00:13:23.090 --> 00:13:25.860 the entire time. The film. was in the office 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:28.639 of the veterans of the Lincoln Brigade. The exact 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:31.559 literal organization of the very people the film 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:33.960 was originally made to support. I know, I know. 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:37.399 How does an organization like that just lose 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:39.740 a masterpiece about themselves inside their own 00:13:39.740 --> 00:13:42.539 office for seven decades? It sounds like an impossible 00:13:42.539 --> 00:13:44.860 irony, I know, but it actually makes complete 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.720 logistical sense when you examine how human institutions 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.279 function over long periods of time. An office 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:53.059 is not an archive. Okay, that's true. To a film 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:55.679 historian, the documentary is lost because it 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.879 is not cataloged in a recognized, accessible 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:01.840 cinematic database. But to the people actually 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.179 working in that veteran's office over those 72 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:07.399 years, that film was likely just a mysterious, 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:10.440 unmarked metal canister. Just sitting on a dusty 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:12.720 top shelf. Or shoved to the back of a supply 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.500 closet. As decades pass, generations of staff 00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:19.179 turn over and institutional memory simply fades 00:14:19.179 --> 00:14:22.210 away. The people working in that office in 1980 00:14:22.210 --> 00:14:26.570 or 1990 or 2005 had absolutely no idea that the 00:14:26.570 --> 00:14:28.629 tarnished canister next to the spare printer 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:31.009 paper contained an 18 -minute piece of missing 00:14:31.009 --> 00:14:32.570 global history. They were just trying to get 00:14:32.570 --> 00:14:34.919 through their work day. Exactly. They were focused 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:36.879 on their day -to -day administrative work, answering 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.259 phones, organizing audience. It becomes part 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:41.220 of the furniture. Your brain just filters it 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.419 out as part of the baseline reality of the room. 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:45.919 It just blends in. It takes a curator, someone 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.899 like Juan Salas, walking into that space and 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:51.279 actively looking with an external archivist's 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.019 eye to realize that the glasses are sitting right 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:56.220 there on top of the organization's head. And 00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:58.919 the sheer serendipity of Juan Salas finding it 00:14:58.919 --> 00:15:02.320 in 2010 completely changed the trajectory of 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:06.299 this document. because that unlikely rediscovery 00:15:06.299 --> 00:15:09.559 in a mundane office setting directly paved the 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:11.919 way for the film to be elevated to the absolute 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:15.059 highest tier of American historical preservation. 00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:18.419 It really did. In 2017, just seven years after 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:20.559 it was pulled from that office shelf with the 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.740 Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain was officially 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:25.139 selected for preservation in the United States 00:15:25.139 --> 00:15:27.840 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:30.759 That is a staggering promotion from a clanking 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.679 16 millimeter projector in a smoky union hall. 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:36.299 It is the ultimate institutional validation, 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:39.720 and the specific criteria cited by the Library 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:42.860 of Congress for its induction is incredibly revealing. 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:45.659 They don't just save everything. They selected 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:49.700 this specific 18 -minute film for being culturally, 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.919 historically, or aesthetically significant. Culturally, 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:55.899 historically, or aesthetically significant. Those 00:15:55.899 --> 00:15:59.659 are heavy academic words for a film that was 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:02.279 essentially born to be a collection plate. This 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:04.340 raises an important question about how the mere 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:07.620 passage of time fundamentally alters the perceived 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:11.320 value and purpose of media. In 1938, this film 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:15.000 was purely ruthlessly utilitarian. It was a functional 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.759 mechanism to extract cash for wounded soldiers. 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:20.460 Exactly. Nobody in that Union Hall was stroking 00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:22.620 their chin and marveling at Cartier -Bresson's 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:24.600 geometric framing. They were looking at the blood 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:26.139 and the rubble. They're looking at their neighbors 00:16:26.139 --> 00:16:28.340 on the screen. But with the passage of time, 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:30.460 the fading of the immediate conflict and its 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:33.480 subsequent loss and rediscovery, the object has 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:36.799 transformed. It has shed its temporary fundraising 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.559 skin. It is now an immortalized historical artifact. 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:41.820 We now have the luxury of viewing it for its 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:44.500 aesthetic value. The stark black and white imagery, 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.700 the brilliant silent montage, the historic collision 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:50.580 of Cartier -Bresson, Klein, Kappa, and Le Maire's 00:16:50.580 --> 00:16:53.679 visual styles. Time has elevated a functional, 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:56.340 desperate object into a cultural pillar. But 00:16:56.340 --> 00:16:58.019 I want to press you on that elevation because 00:16:58.019 --> 00:17:01.340 it feels like a double -edged sword. By taking 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:04.299 this incredibly grassroots, union -hole film, 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:06.779 a film that was literally designed to be shown 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:10.920 on a cheap Portable 16 millimeter projector to 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:13.059 raise urgent funds from working -class people 00:17:13.059 --> 00:17:15.680 Yeah, and placing it into the pristine perfectly 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:18.079 climate controlled official sterile vaults of 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:20.920 the Library of Congress Do we risk sanitizing 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.740 it right do we strip away its raw desperate original 00:17:23.740 --> 00:17:26.319 soul by? putting it behind metaphorical museum 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.980 glass and labeling it aesthetically significant. 00:17:29.259 --> 00:17:31.740 You are identifying the constant inherent tragedy 00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:33.880 in all historical preservation. Yes, it does 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:36.460 sanitize the experience. By preserving the physical 00:17:36.460 --> 00:17:39.180 object, you inevitably permanently alter its 00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:41.359 context. Unavoidable. The Library of Congress 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.440 guarantees that those exact 18 minutes of visual 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.140 footage will survive for centuries. Scholars 00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:49.140 unborn will be able to study Kappa's framing. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:53.000 But no archive, no matter how advanced, can ever 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.700 truly preserve the smell of the sweat and tobacco 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:58.839 in that 1930s Union Hall. It can't preserve the 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.079 loud mechanical whirring of the 16 millimeter 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.549 projector. or the heavy, desperate silence in 00:18:03.549 --> 00:18:05.630 the room as the hat is passed to save a neighbor's 00:18:05.630 --> 00:18:08.509 life. We lose the acoustic pub set entirely. 00:18:08.789 --> 00:18:11.349 Yeah. But the brutal reality is that the alternative 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:14.410 is letting the film rot away in an unmarked canister 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:16.730 in a filing cabinet until the celluloid turns 00:18:16.730 --> 00:18:19.609 to dust. And the visual evidence of those volunteers 00:18:19.609 --> 00:18:23.019 is erased from the earth forever. We willingly 00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:26.240 sacrifice the raw original context in order to 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:28.839 secure the survival of the visual memory. Which 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.119 brings us to exactly why this journey matters 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.480 so deeply for you our listener today. We've set 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:36.119 this time tracking an 18 -minute black -and -white 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:38.460 silent film from its creation on the battlefields 00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:41.599 of 1938 through the Union Halls into a forgotten 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.299 office closet and finally into the most prestigious 00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:46.900 archive in the country. It's an incredible journey. 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:49.599 But this deep dive really isn't just about an 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.220 old movie. It's a powerful testament to the fact 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:56.299 that media, history, and human stories are terrifyingly 00:18:56.299 --> 00:18:59.559 fragile. It shows us that grassroots efforts, 00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:02.640 the things made quickly, made cheaply, made for 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:05.039 a strictly functional purpose and shown in local 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.920 community spaces. They often possess a lasting 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.079 aesthetic and historical value that completely 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.440 outlives their initial utilitarian goals. That's 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:16.339 the real takeaway here. The things happening 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:18.680 right now in your community, the local efforts, 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:21.299 the raw footage captured on phones during community 00:19:21.299 --> 00:19:23.700 organizing, the functional messages being passed 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:26.759 around today, well... That is a definitive history 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:28.460 of tomorrow. And that leads to a final thought 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:30.380 I want to leave you with. Building directly on 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:32.299 everything we've uncovered today about how easily 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:34.700 history hides in plain sight. We just explored 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:37.420 how an 18 -minute physical reel of film shot 00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:40.200 by masters of their craft managed to sit completely 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:42.440 forgotten in a mundane administrative office 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:44.900 for over seven decades. Right under everyone's 00:19:44.900 --> 00:19:48.309 noses. It went entirely unnoticed by the very 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:51.369 people whose legacy it contained before finally 00:19:51.369 --> 00:19:54.690 being recognized as a national pressure. So take 00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:57.910 a moment to consider our current infinitely expanding 00:19:57.910 --> 00:20:00.130 digital world. Oh, that's an interesting parallel. 00:20:00.309 --> 00:20:02.750 What crucial pieces of our modern history, you 00:20:02.750 --> 00:20:05.990 know, urgent grassroots footage, vital on the 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:08.190 ground reporting, the digital equivalent of a 00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:11.589 16 millimeter Union Hall film are currently sitting 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:15.319 lost on an old forgotten external hard drive 00:20:15.319 --> 00:20:17.240 tossed in the back of your desk drawer. Just 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.160 collecting dust. Or floating anonymously on an 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.460 obsolete, abandoned server that no one has locked 00:20:22.460 --> 00:20:26.000 into for a decade. What massive, defining piece 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.980 of our era's story is just waiting in plain sight 00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:31.519 right now, hoping against hope to be accidentally 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:33.299 rediscovered by someone who knows what they're 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:36.400 looking at 70 years from today? That is a profound 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.480 and slightly terrifying thought to end on. Thank 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:41.240 you so much for joining us in this deep dive 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:43.859 into the fascinating, unlikely journey of VIF 00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:46.180 with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain. We'll 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:46.779 catch you next time.