A History of Film

1894 – ongoing51 items

film
The rocket lands in the Man in the Moon’s eye: a frame from the hand-coloured print of Georges Méliès’s “Le Voyage dans la Lune”, 1902. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The rocket lands in the Man in the Moon’s eye: a frame from the hand-coloured print of Georges Méliès’s “Le Voyage dans la Lune”, 1902. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Moving pictures, around the world

From a peep-show parlour on Broadway and a paid screening in a Paris café basement to a Korean satire winning Hollywood’s top prize and a film industry that lives on the phone in your pocket. About half the events happen outside Europe and North America: Bombay, Shanghai, Giza, Tokyo, Calcutta, Bahia, Ouagadougou, Onitsha.

Seven bands

  1. Silent era — pictures without synchronised speech

  2. Classical Hollywood studio system — the factory years

  3. The Hays Code years — Hollywood censoring itself

  4. French New Wave — critics pick up cameras

  5. New Hollywood — directors take over the studios

  6. Blockbuster and multiplex era — the summer event film

  7. Streaming era — the cinema comes home

They overlap on purpose: the Code outlived the studio system, and the blockbuster was still king when streaming began.

Threads

Filter by tag to follow one line through it all: hollywood, india (Bombay to Tollywood), africa (Cairo to Nollywood), festivals (Venice, Cannes and the Oscars), technology (sound, widescreen, computers, streaming) and women.

Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films. — Bong Joon-ho, Golden Globes, January 2020

Items

  1. First Kinetoscope parlour opens

    Holland Brothers’ Kinetoscope Parlor, 1155 Broadway, New York

  2. Silent era

    ≈ 34 years

  3. Lumière Cinématographe: the first paid public screening

    Salon Indien, Grand Café, 14 boulevard des Capucines, Paris

  4. The Cinématographe reaches Bombay

    Watson’s Hotel, Esplanade, Bombay

  5. Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon

    Méliès’ glass studio, Montreuil

  6. The nickelodeon

    Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh

  7. Alice Guy-Blaché founds Solax

    Flushing, Queens, New York

  8. Hollywood’s first studio

    Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, Hollywood

  9. Raja Harishchandra: India’s first feature

    Coronation Cinematograph, Girgaon, Bombay

  10. The Birth of a Nation premieres

    Clune’s Auditorium, Los Angeles

  11. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

    Marmorhaus, Kurfürstendamm, Berlin

  12. Battleship Potemkin premieres

    Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

  13. Classical Hollywood studio system

    ≈ 21 years

  14. The Jazz Singer opens

    Warners’ Theatre, Broadway, New York

  15. The first Academy Awards

    Blossom Room, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

  16. Alam Ara: India’s first talkie

    Majestic Cinema, Girgaon, Bombay

  17. The Hays Code years

    ≈ 34 years

  18. The Goddess: Shanghai’s silent golden age

    Shanghai

  19. Studio Misr opens

    Studio Misr, Giza

  20. Hattie McDaniel wins an Oscar

    Cocoanut Grove, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles

  21. The first Cannes Film Festival

    Casino Municipal, Cannes

  22. The Waldorf Statement starts the blacklist

    Waldorf-Astoria, New York

  23. Supreme Court breaks up the studios

    Supreme Court of the United States

  24. Rashomon wins the Golden Lion

    Palazzo del Cinema, Lido di Venezia

  25. The Robe opens in CinemaScope

    Roxy Theatre, New York

  26. Ozu’s Tokyo Story

  27. Pather Panchali

    Basusree Cinema, Calcutta

  28. French New Wave

    6 years

  29. The 400 Blows wins at Cannes

    Palais Croisette, Cannes

  30. Cinema Novo: Black God, White Devil

    Monte Santo, Bahia

  31. Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl

  32. New Hollywood

    ≈ 13 years

  33. First pan-African film festival in Ouagadougou

    Ouagadougou

  34. Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss

    Hong Kong

  35. Blockbuster and multiplex era

    ≈ 45 years

  36. Jaws: the first summer blockbuster

  37. Sholay

    Minerva Theatre, Bombay

  38. Kinepolis: the first megaplex

    Kinepolis, Heysel, Brussels

  39. Living in Bondage starts Nollywood

    Onitsha, Anambra State

  40. Jane Campion and Chen Kaige share the Palme d’Or

    Palais des Festivals, Cannes

  41. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

    Maratha Mandir, Mumbai

  42. Toy Story

  43. Taste of Cherry wins the Palme d’Or

    Palais des Festivals, Cannes

  44. Streaming era

  45. Netflix starts streaming

  46. UNESCO ranks Nollywood second in the world

  47. Kathryn Bigelow wins Best Director

    Kodak Theatre, Hollywood

  48. Roma wins the Golden Lion

    Palazzo del Cinema, Lido di Venezia

  49. Parasite wins Best Picture

    Dolby Theatre, Hollywood

  50. The pandemic closes the cinemas

  51. Naatu Naatu wins the Oscar

    Dolby Theatre, Hollywood