Tag: Christmas

The oldest Santa Claus movie in the world from 1898

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santa claus

Santa Claus is a regularly filmed man. But did you know his first silver screen appearance was nearly 120 years ago?

Santa Claus was directed by British filmmaker and psychic George Albert Smith, and his 66-second production showcases Santa’s present delivering prowess. The film starts with two young girls taken to bed by their maid before Saint Nick arrives on the roof with his big sack of presents. He enters the home, leaves stockings on the end of the girls’ bed and exits stage left.

Simple by today’s standards but quite elaborate for the late 19th century, described as “one of the most visually and conceptually sophisticated British films made up to then”.

Stream it below and Merry Christmas from everyone at Cultrface!

Santa Claus (1898) - G.A. Smith | BFI National Archive

(via Open Culture)

The sustainability of Christmas gifts

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Lemon slices hung up

We’re 31 days away from Christmas, folks! The dreaded virus—alongside changing consumer behaviour—means we’re buying more and more online but that comes at a cost to your bank balance and the environment.

Shop Like You Give A Damn wrote an interesting piece on the sustainability of Christmas gifts. In the article, they looked at the impact of some of the most commonly given Christmas gifts in the UK including socks, shampoo, candles, and wrapping paper.

Here’s a brief look at the environmental impact of a pyjama set:

When examining a cotton pyjama set, we need to talk about water consumption first. A shockingly high amount of 20 000 litres of water is used to produce one cotton pyjama set. This is the same amount of water a UK household of two would use in about 2 and a half months!

Yikes!

Of course, this isn’t to shame people for giving or receiving presents but it’s helpful to know how items are made and how they affect the planet.

So if you’re interested in more eco-friendly Christmas gift ideas, check out Shop Like You Give A Damn’s gifts sets as well as Mrs Slee Jones’s eco-friendly Christmas post.