Lyrical Nitrate (Dutch: Lyrisch Nitraat) is a 1991 film by Peter Delpeut. The film consists of clips from various silent films printed on decaying nitrocellulose (or nitrate) film stock, including shorts, documentaries, and travelogues.[1] There is no formal narrative. Delpeut followed the film with 1993's The Forbidden Quest, which also uses found footage; the two were released together on video and DVD.[2]
The films were drawn from the Desmets Collection of the Nederlands Filmmuseum, where Delpeut worked as deputy director for a decade.[3] Jean Desmets (1875–1956) was an early Dutch film distributor. After Desmets' death a cache of film prints was discovered in the attic of a theater he owned in Amsterdam, and subsequently added to the museum's collection.[1][4]