The palmeral of Elche

The Palmeral of Elche is a plantation of palm trees in the Spanish province of Alicante. It is the largest palm grove ; in Europe and one of the largest in the world, surpassed in size only by some in Arab countries.

The Palmeral includes the Parque Municipal and many other orchards (huertos), covering over 3.5 km2 (1.4 sq mi), including 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) within the city of Elche (Elx). It contains more than 11,000 palm trees, mostly date palms , with individual specimens up to 300 years old. At its peak, in the 18th century, it may have covered an area twice as large, with up to 200,000 trees. The dates are harvested in December.

It is thought that palms were originally planted in this location as early as the 5th century BC by Carthaginians who settled in south-east Spain. The plantation survived under the Romans and the Moors.

Winter-wonderland

Cinema Verite

Documentary filmmaking is as old as the motion picture format itself. There has always been a desire for film and video directors to 'tell the story as it happens'.

Just like any other story telling device, documentaries can be broken up into three types; Docudrama, Observational Documentation and Cinema Verite Having shot all three styles, cinema verite has proven to be most challenging. Roughly described as 'Film Truth', cinema verite is the filmmaker's attempt to give an unbiased look at living stories.

Green Murcia

Filminfo:
Among the very best resources on the web is the Library of Congress American Memory site. The purpose of American memory is to provide free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. Its Motion Pictures section is a marvellous example of this, offering users access to a wide range of predominantly early cinema subjects, all available for viewing and downloading, in MPEG, QuickTime and RealMedia formats.

 

An Artist Dream

Anton Pieck 1895 1987, a Dutch painter, artist and graphic artist. His works are noted for their nostalgic or fairy tale-like character and are widely popular, appearing regularly on cards and calendars.
From 1952 to 1974, Pieck was responsible for designing almost anything for fairytale park Efteling in Kaatsheuvel, which has become one of the most important theme parks in Europe. His work for Efteling has been of a huge importance for the future of the park, since almost all later designers used many of his graphic characteristics in their designs (such as materials, colors and shapes).