I was beginning film school when I had to leave for a family memorial That's what lead to the unearthing of the archives of my great grandfather Jacques It turned out he had invented one of the most revolutionary movie cameras of all time...

The Bolex If a cinematographer is a magician, The Bolex is the best box of tricks ever.

And just listen to the noise it makes.

(Bolex reel humming) I got real good at winding it up real quick.

(imitating winding zoom) They're nice and light and you can do a lot of camera moves with them.

Once it's in your hands, you can use your body like a tripod.

It was the ideal tool to learn the craft of filmmaking.

I was consumed by the idea that maybe it wasn't too late to get to know Jacques.

His journal was almost like a treasure map going all the way back to the early days of film.

Jacques was known as an early filmmaker in Switzerland.

There were all these people and I had no idea who they were.

I think he was too fast You know.

and he was inventing too many things.

It goes from we're taking off to the moon to, oh no, we're crashing, we're crashing back to earth.

What does it mean to be an immigrant without paper and what is it to be a Jew?

Despite the struggles he faced, he focused his camera on the good times.

You find a filmmaker who is afraid of what may happen So I found my great-grandfather's films and I can't ask him any questions about it.

so I don't know the story behind those films.

He'll probably speak to you through the film.

You'll have a conversation with him and that's a beautiful thing.