Quebec home movie from 1929 may be some of earliest colour film

Flappers primp and preen for the camera, cheekily mussing-up each other's perfectlymarcelledwaves.

A well-dressed man puffs up his chest,proudly posing with his arms around two beautiful women who gleefully kiss him on the cheek.

This isn't a Hollywood production it'sa home movie shot in Quebec back in 1929, and it may very well be the earliest colour footage that still exists in the world today.

Montreal-based film historian LouisPelletieruploadedthedigitizedversionof the amateur footage on hisYouTubechannelin mid-March.

He knew when he first purchased the old film reels at a flea market in 2014 for $25 that he had stumbled upon something remarkable.

"For people to see footage that old, in colour, it sort of bridges the gap between our current society and the world of a century ago," he said."It makes us realize that people back thenweren't that different."

'It's surprising for us to see these really nice, really clear colour images of this time period.- LouisPelletier

Shrouded in mystery

The edge codes on the film indicate thestock was manufactured in 1929.

Other clues, such as the fashionand a newspaper one of the women reads, support the suspicion that the film dates from that era.

One woman, a brunettewearing a silk kimono, may have even picked out her outfit just for the special new camera.

"It looks like she picked that thing out of herwardrobeexpresslyto show off the colour process."

Pelletier doesn't know who thepeople are in the footage, but hepoints to a few clues.

"In the 1920s and 30s, home movie making was quite expensive. It was the more well-to-do families, shall we say, who owned film making equipment.I'm fairly confident that it's an Anglo familythere's the Union Jack at some point," he said, adding that he believes the footage may have been shot during a summer vacation in Eastern Quebec.

Early colour film technique

While the film itselfappears to showblack and white images,Pelletierknew hewas looking at one of the earliest colour film techniques:Kodacolor.

Pelletierhas decades of experience working with early film, and his extensive knowledge served him well.

"With this colour process, itlooksblack and white because of the emulsion," he said."I recognized the vertical lines as a clue it was actually colour."

Eighty years ago, projectionists used a specialcolor screen divided into red, greenand blue sections to be able to see the vivid hues.

Pelletierhad the footage in his possession for over two years before he could actually see it the way it was intended to be seen. He enlisted the help of fellow film lovers at laCinmathqueQubcoiseand film collectors who lent him their film projectors and lenses.

They gathered this winter as they prepared to screen the footage in colour for the first time in decades.

"It was quite festive," he said. "Everybody was quite excited, and happy that we managed to find a way to screen the film and see the colour."

Pelletierhas collected approximately 200 reels of film over the years and knows that this is a rare find.

"I'm a historian, and we're always cautious saying something is the first," he said.

"There were colour films shot in Montreal in the1910susing another colour film technique, but all of these films are lost."

Pelletierand other film lovers will becelebrating home movies in April as part of Home Movie Day. You can hear more on this story Tuesday morning onQuebec AMwith Susan Campbell at 7:40 a.m. EST.