An old colourised version of a scene from an old black and white film showing two French women throwing coins towards a group of poor children in Vietnam is being shared with the false claim that it shows the late Queen Elizabeth II throwing food at African children.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning monarch, passed away at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022. Elizabeth II held the title for a little over 70 years and the news of her death led to mixed reactions on Twitter from condolences to some users criticising her for the role of the British monarchy in imperialism in the countries the British empire had colonized.
The 30-second video is being shared with the caption, "This is the Queen herself throwing food to African kids like chicken and then you all have the audacity to post and type Rest in.... #BlackTwitter #QueenElisabeth #LondonBridgeIsDown"
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The same video is also being shared in Malayalam with the misleading claim. The caption when translated reads, "I remember someone saying that death does not make anyone holy...Only slavish eyes with shoe-licking traditions can praise them..."
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The video is also widely being shared on Facebook with the false claim. (click here to view)
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from an old film by French filmmaker Gabriel Veyre shot between 1899 and 1900 in Vietnam, showing two French women throwing coins at poor children. Additionally, the film predates Queen Elizabeth II, as she was born in 1926.
On checking the quote tweets to the tweet with the viral video, we found a reply by a Twitter account 'Fake History Hunter' which pointed out that the women in the viral video are French and not Queen Elizabeth II.
We then ran a reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video and search results showed that it is from a film by French filmmaker Gabriel Veyre shot between 1899 and 1900 in Vietnam.
The French website 'Catalogue Lumière' which archives films made by the Lumière company in Lyon, France states that the scene is from a film by Veyre and was shot between 1899 and 1900 in the French colony of Annam, French Indochina, (now Vietnam). French Indochina refers to the three countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia when they were under the colonial rule of the French empire.
The film was screened on January 20, 1901, in Lyon, France, with the title "Indo-Chine: Annamese children picking up cash in front of the ladies' pagoda." The synopsis of the movie states that the two women seen in the video are Madame Paul Doumer and her daughter throwing money at native children in Vietnam.
At the time the film was made, Doumer's husband Paul Doumer was appointed the Governor General of Indochina. He later served as president of France.
French filmmaker Veyre travelled across Indochina as a still photographer preparing photographs and films for the colonial French government to exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle.
The caption of the photo still from the film on Catalogue Lumière when translated reads, "Annamese children collecting sapeques in front of the Ladies' Pagoda" Here Annamese refers to a native or inhabitant of Vietnam, and sapeques refers to coins issued by France from the late 19th century for use in Indochina.
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