[Tibor Zoltan Koller Home Movies: Reel 3]

Tibor Zoltan Koller (1920-1975) was an amateur filmmaker who made home movies in Australia and overseas from the 1940s to the early 1970s. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Tibor lived in Melbourne, Victoria with his family. His wife Merna Koller was a frequent collaborator on these films, showing a shared interest in filmmaking.

Tibor captured suburban family life in Melbourne, including family celebrations, urban scenes and regional holidays. Tibor was actively engaged in the lapidary society of Australia. Several of his films show opal fields and gemstone artisans at work, as well as the 1969 ‘Gemboree’ in Beechworth, Victoria, a national festival organised by the lapidary clubs of Australia. Tibor also travelled to Idar-Oberstein in Germany, historically known as a gemstone town, and to Japan.

The Tibor Zoltan Koller Home Movie Collection has been donated to ACMI by the filmmaker’s daughter Vicki Koller. The films were made on Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film.

This film takes place in Idar-Oberstein, a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, which is traditionally known as a gemstone town. The film contains footage of the town’s workshops, including scenes of men making detailed cameo carvings and using large grinding wheels. It also features the water mills used to power the workshop from the river Nahe.

This film was made on Standard 8mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:15:00 man working on a small gemstone on a grinding wheel
00:01:14:00 making a carved cameo
00:03:57:00 jewellers in the workshop
00:04:09:00 a display box filled with cameos
00:05:16:00 a water mill used to power the workshop machines
00:06:20:00 a large grinding wheel being used on slabs of stone
00:07:22:00 polishing on emery wheels
00:08:42:00 water mill surrounded by old stone walls