In 1981, Mike Zahs stumbled into three truckloads of cardboard boxes labelled ‘Brinton Crap’, containing an invaluable collection of film history paraphernalia. The collection formerly belonged to local Washington, Iowa couple, Frank and Indiana Brinton, who travelled from Texas to Minnesota at the turn of the century, bringing silent films, magic lantern slides and related entertainment to small town America for the first time. 
 
Zahs, a retired, science and history teacher, and specialist in Iowa history, immediately understood the significance of this rare collection and set off on a mission to preserve, restore and redistribute the over 130 lost-lost silent films including works by Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers and special effects pioneer Georges Méliés. This documentary follows Zahs through the process of sifting through the Brinton’s remarkable collection of photographs, posters, flipbooks, sheet music and hand-crank projectors, as he prepares to hand it over to the University of Iowa Library’s Special Collections and host a premiere of the historic films at a local opera house.

This London Premiere is followed by a Q&A with directors Tommy Haines, Andrew Sherburne and protagonist Mike Zahs, as well as a special screening of silent films from the Brinton’s rare collection.