Amsterdam Bakelite Collection

TRANSATLANTIC CHEMISTRY: BAEKELAND THE INVENTOR OF BAKELITE ®

The fascinating life story of the Belgian American inventor Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland, his experiments and adventures at the turn of the twentieth century, and especially his marvelous discovery of Bakelite®, the material that conquered the world!

Baekeland appears here in a distinct biographical perspective, not only as a chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur, but also as a socially responsible citizen in his new homeland. This compelling portrait explores the importance of Bakelite® in the contexts of history, technology, and the history of art.

Difficult and abstract technological processes are explained in a clear and lucid fashion, from the industrial preparation of the basic material to the contemporaneous mass production of molded products on an industrial scale. The mechanism of Baekeland’s most important instrument, the bakelizer, is made visible for the first time.

For the first time in history all of the actual, hitherto unrevealed facts concerning the so-called million-dollar deal between Leo Baekeland and George Eastman are presented in this film. Cooperation with international institutes, museums, and commercial enterprises has provided rare and fascinating film footage. Fragments from pre-war American and German commercial films show the production and adaptation of Bakelite® for a variety of purposes.

Along with experts including a chemist, an art historian, an industrial engineer, and a collector, one of Baekeland’s great-grandchildren is interviewed about his relations with his ancestor. The world-wide trail of Bakelite® leads to film locations in Europe, the United States, and the Far East.

16:9  Widescreen, HDTV, 1920 x 1080p

45’00”, less commercial time

Reindert Groot (1946) is a professional producer/director with years of experience in making educational programs. He is also founder of the Amsterdam Bakelite® Collection, which includes an extensive library and an archive of images from the late 19th century to the present day.