The WeaversCinema and Classical Texts: Apollo's New Light, Martin M. Winkler, Cambridge University Press, 2009, , p. 71. or Grandmother Despina is a short silent, black and white documentary film.
It was made in 1905 by the Balkan film pioneers the Manaki brothers in the small Aromanian village of Avdella (), then in the Ottoman vilayet of Monastir, present day Greece. It is about 60 seconds long and depicts the Manakis' aunts and 114-year-old grandmother Despina spinning and weaving.Zacharia, p. 323Balkan border crossings: First annual of the Konitsa Summer School, Vasilēs G. Nitsiakos, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, , pp. 41–42.Hellenisms: culture, identity, and ethnicity from antiquity to modernity, Katerina Zacharia, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, , p. 323. It was originally called "Our 114-year-old grandmother at work weaving", but has come to be known as The Weavers.Filmland Griechenland – Terra incognita: griechische, Elene Psoma, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2008, , S. 23. (Ger.) It is believed to be the first film shot anywhere in the Ottoman Balkans. (Mk.) Despina, born in 1791, is believed to be the earliest-born person recorded on film;The “oldest” person caught on film was born in the 18th century: Despa of Avdela. The film was shot with 35 mm film with an Urban Bioscope movie camera (serial number 300) imported from London.
An extract from the film appears at the beginning of Theo Angelopoulos's 1995 film Ulysses' Gaze.
References
Bibliography Greece in modern times: an annotated bibliography of works published in English in twenty-two academic disciplines during the twentieth century, 1:109 Katerina Zacharia, "'Reel' Hellenisms: Perceptions of Greece in Greek Cinema" in Katerina Zacharia, Hellenisms, p. 323
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