During his stay in Macedonia in the autumn of 1903 and the winter of 1904, Charles Rider Noble filmed on January 20th 1904, “The Feast of St.John at Rilo Monastery”. This film is 150 feet long (45,5 meters) and it lasted a little less than three minutes. The film showed the monastery and the events in which the local inhabitants and the refugees from Macedonia participated. It is possible that on this occasion he made the film “Refugees at Rilo Monastery” which shows refugees from Macedonia who had escaped from the Turkish reprisals and found their shelter at the monastery. But since Charles Rider Noble same to Macedonia after his stay in Bulgaria, it is possible that the film had been made in the autumn of 1903, like “Refugees at Samokov”.
The pictures of Charles Rider Noble done in Macedonia in 1903 and 1904, produced by “Charles Urban Trading Company”, were screened in London in 1904 in the respectable and prestigious Alhambra Hall. Their projection was followed by a great deal of interest and publicity. Information and reviews on them were published in the leading British weekly and daily newspapers. “Black and White” informs us that “… an extraordinary new series of cinema pictures showing the activities of the Macedonian rebels. One of the films shows a real battle, while the others are also very interesting, although less gory…”. “Morning Post” mentions the film “Macedonian Rebels Fight the Turks” and emphasizes the courage of cinematographer Noble who “has shot these scenes exposing himself to a risk in order to film the battle action” and especially for “taking an oath before the rebels’ leader, declaring himself as an enemy of the Turks”. Afterwards the paper says that the pictures are of different value, but they are all interesting, and that their absorbing value is enriched by the lecturer’s comment. “The Standard” and “Financial News” also write about these films. “The Pelican” says… “The scene when we can actually see a man dying on the battle field is something that has never been seen before on film, and this is really horrible and fascinating at the same time”. We have no information whether the films made in Macedonia by Charles Rider Noble have been screened elsewhere besides Great Britain.
