Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill visiting Belfast is shown in one of the films, as Will Leitch reports.
Through nostalgic black-and-white tones of long-hidden film reels, parts of Northern Ireland's forgotten history are being revealed for the first time.
From Winston Churchill's infamous visit to Belfast in 1912 to a 1963 Viking invasion re-enactment in a County Down fishing town, as well as tales of tourism, industrial heritage and sport, a dazzling mosaic of Ulster life is pieced together in unseen archive footage.
Hundreds of unique films have been released to the public to view online for free after the British Film Institute (BFI) unlocked its archive as part of a major history project, From Britain On Film.
One of the films shows the 1930 Tourist Trophy races in Newtownards, County Down
Royal visits and Lord Mayor's shows are documented in the collection, as is the tale of Churchill's appearance in Belfast when he addressed an audience of nationalists in Celtic Park and gave his support to Home Rule.
There are also dozens of travelogues that were used to sell Northern Ireland to tourists in Great Britain and the United States, helping to boost tourism in the years before the Troubles.
And in sport, the 1930 Ulster Tourist Trophy race held at the Ards circuit in County Down is captured on camera. The event attracted thousands of spectators and commanded the attention of the motorsport world.
An archive film released by the British Film Institute shows warships on Belfast Lough
The real gems, however, are found in the footage of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Films of people at work in the spinning mills and constructing the M1 at Stockman's Lane in Belfast shows Northern Ireland's industry at its booming best.
Another film captures the first time Northern Ireland hosted the World Ploughing Championships, and fittingly it is a local man who takes the title.
The colour footage from the 1959 competition in Armoy, County Antrim, shows Lawrence McMillan's crowning moment as he gets his hands on the Golden Plough.
Kilkeel in County Down was the scene for a re-enactment of a Viking invasion in 1963
But perhaps most revealing of all is a 1938 recording of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
It gives a rare glimpse into the casualty department and operating theatres, external as they were then, 10 years before the foundation of the National Health Service.
While medicine has advanced considerably in the eight decades since then, some aspects of healthcare in Northern Ireland appear to remain unchanged - the film ends with an appeal from the chairman of the hospital's management board to reduce waiting lists.
The BFI believes the footage of the Royal Victoria Hospital is the earliest ever shot there
Francis Jones, of Northern Ireland Screen, which gathered much of the footage, said the aim of the project was to preserve delicate film that could otherwise be lost.
"There is a pure nostalgia value to film. It's different to reading a textbook or history book," he added.
"To actually see the film has that kind of visceral appeal and really strikes a chord with people."
The full From Britain On Film archive can be viewed at the BFI Player, external.
