Iowa’s longest-running film festival is set for two nights of rewatching history.

The Brinton Film Festival will be showcasing some of the earliest films in the world from 1895 to 1908. Local historian Mike Zahs will be providing commentary during the showing of the films as all the movies in the Brinton collection are silent films. The collection contains over 140 films with the shortest film being three seconds long. While Zahs won’t be showing every film he says he will be presenting a special projector with slides from the Civil War era, “The Brintons had a double dissolving magic lantern. Almost no one knows or has ever seen a double dissolving magic lantern. I found one in March, I’ll have it on display and I’ll show how it works.”

The two day event will be Friday, July 30th and Saturday, July 31st. Doors open at the Ainsworth Opera House at 7 p.m. with films starting at 7:30 each evening. Ice cream will be provided by the Ainsworth Dairy Mart and served when doors open. Admission is free-will donation with proceeds going to the Ainsworth Opera House. For more information contact Zahs at 319-653-6250.