DELA CRUZ, MA. CLARET SHENE O.

BEED-III

LESSON 2 CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

ACTIVITY 1. Answer the following questions.

(1) Perception on FILM?

a. Whenever you watch movies, how does it make you feel? Explain.
 Whenever I’m done watching movies I feel like crying when the movie
is so dramatic and sometimes I am unsatisfied because they are
suspending it when it comes to the point that there is intense fighting. It
helps me though to release my emotions when I’m stress.

b. What do you think makes movie more interesting than reading short story or
novel?
 For me movie is more interesting than reading a short story or novel
because movie is you’ll just only sit and relax while watching. You can
eat while you are watching you will just focus on the screen that your
watching than reading a book, because when you are reading you cant do
what ever you want and you will just imagine what happening in the
story that you are reading. Also movies are addicting I can finish the
whole episode in just 1 day when I’m finish doing the house chores.

c. Is there an instance when you find movies difficult to understand? How do

you deal with it?
 Yes, when I’m watching korean drama. When I like the movie so much I
will search a movie that has a sub title. Even if its hard for me watch
while looking at the english sub title, I’m okey with it as long as I can
understand what the story’s about.
(2) Preferences

d. What genre of movie do you prefer to watch? Explain why.

 The genre that I prefer to watch is ROM-COM or Romantic Comedy,
because when you watch a funny movie and a love story you will cry
with laughter. For example is the one I’ve watched the “Through Night
and Day” starring Paolo Contes and Alessandra de Rossi. They are
engaged and they go to Iceland for a Prenup Trip. The couple tested their
relationship while they are in Iceland.

e. Do you prefer to watch movies by yourself or with someone? If both, when

are the times when you feel watching movies alone? How about when you
want to watch movies with others? Explain.
 I prefer both, when I’m alone and my husband is at work , and when I’m
bored I’m watching movies that makes my day busy, and also the
favorite movies that I’m watching is the Korean Drama my husband
don’t want to watch it because he say’s that it’s so corny. Then when I’m
about to watch a movie that I really need companion because it is a
horror movie, I’m telling him that it’s the one that he wants to watch.

f. Who among the Filipino actors and actresses do you enjoy watching in
movies? Why them (mention 1 male and 1 female celebrities? Justify.
 The Filipino male that I enjoy watching is Coco Martin, because even he
is actor he also manage to be a director, and help other actresses and
actors that in needs. I also idolize him because of Fernando Poe Jr. And
the female actress that I enjoy watching is ob course Kathryn Bernardo,
because I almost watched all her movies since she was little started in
going bulilit and until now that she is Happily married with Daniel
Padilla. The movie that makes me fall in love is the “Got to believe in
magic”.

g. Who among the foreign actors and actresses do you enjoy watching in
movies? Why them (mention 1 male and 1 female celebrities? Justify.
  Ob course it’s Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens the first movie
Hollywood that I’ve watched, they are match together you can see the
spark in their eyes that their in love of what they are doing. They are so
professional while in the scene. I just enjoy watching it because they
express their feelings while singing.

h. Have you watched indie films? How different are they from the other movies
you have watched? Do you enjoy watching them? Explain.
 Yes, the difference of indie films from the other movies is they have so
much money that they spent just to make their movie more beautiful and
also often build sets, and travel all over the world to get exactly what
they need for production, whereas indie films is just for local, national or
international film festivals only, and also they need to use only what they
have, and often, film in the same location, with one or two shots that are
not in the same place, and it will never be released in the other country,
and the film that they make is almost a historical content. And it also
made with lower budgets than a major studio films. I enjoy watching it
when it comes to comedy, drama etc.

(3) Age of Computer or Digital Age

i. What changes were made on movie production with the emergence of

Computer of Digital Age? Did you like the changes? Justify.
 The idea is heavily linked to the concept of a Digital Age or Digital
Revolution, and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional
industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization,
to an economy based around the manipulation of information. Yes,
because it makes people easier to use the newly features of technology
and also the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to
have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or
impossible to find previously.
 j. With the rise of information technology. How was the movie industry
affected? What TWO problems were encountered by its users? What
measures were made to resolve each issue?
 As I search, it has a lot of other industries, has completely changed the
film industry and affected by the rising of technology. The two problem
that the users encountered was the Computer Security and information
security in general. To resolve the issue they need to use strong
passwords, control access, use a security software, update programs and
systems regularly, put up a firewall, monitor for intrusion, and raise
awareness.
ACTIVITY 2. Now that you get acquainted with the contemporary period of film in
America and in the Philippines, it is time to learn also the version of other countries.
Conduct your own research on the contemporary history of film in Asia, Europe, and
Africa. Get to the gist of when contemporary period began there, types of films
produced, and other distinguishing details you may find. Use the template below as
guide for the presentation of your output.

Contemporary Period of Film

[INTRODUCTION]

ASIA

Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent
of Asia. More commonly, however, it is most often used to refer to the cinema of East
Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as
part of Middle Eastern cinema, along with the cinema of Egypt. The cinema of
Central Asia is often grouped with the Middle East or, in the past, the cinema of the
Soviet Union during the Soviet Central Asia era. North Asia is dominated
by Siberian Russian cinema, and is thus considered part of European cinema.
East Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of Japan, China, Hong
Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, including the Japanese anime industry and action
films of Hong Kong. South Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of
India (including Bollywood, Telugu cinema, South Indian, Bengali and Punjabi
cinema), the cinema of Pakistan (including Punjabi and Urdu cinema), the cinema of
Bangladesh (Bengali cinema), and the cinema of Nepal. Southeast Asian cinema is
typified by the cinema of the Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and other
Southeast Asian countries. The cinema of Central Asia and the southern Caucasus is
typified by Iranian cinema and the cinema of Tajikistan. West Asian cinema is
typified by Arab cinema, Iranian cinema, Israeli cinema, Jewish cinema, and Turkish
cinema.
Precursors of film
A 5,200-year-old earthen bowl found in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, has five images of
a goat painted along the sides. This is believed to be an example of early animation.
Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher circa 500 BC, pondered the phenomenon of inverted
light from the outside world beaming through a small hole in the opposite wall in a
darkened room. Shadow plays first appeared during the Han Dynasty and later gain
popularity across Asia. Around 180 AD, Ting Huan ( 丁 緩 ) created an
elementary zoetrope in China.
In 1021, Alhazen, an Iraqi scientist, experimented with the
same optical principle described by Mo-Ti, and wrote of the results in his Book of
Optics, which provided the first clear description and correct analysis of the camera
obscura. His lamp experiment, where several different light sources are arranged
across a large area, was the first to successfully project an entire image from outdoors
onto a screen indoors with the camera obscura.
Silent film era
The first short films from Asia were produced during the 1890s. The first short
films produced in Japan were Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook) and Shinin no
Sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse), both from 1898. The first Indian short film was also
produced in 1898, The Flower of Persia, directed by Hiralal Sen.
In the early 1900s, Israeli silent movies were screened in sheds, cafes and other
temporary structures. In 1905, Cafe Lorenz opened on Jaffa Road in the Jewish
neighborhood of Neve Tzedek. From 1909, the Lorenz family began screening
movies at the cafe. In 1925, the Kessem Cinema was housed there for a short
time. The first East Asian feature film was Japan's The Life Story of Tasuke
Shiobara (1912). It was followed by India's first feature-length silent film, the period
piece drama Raja Harishchandra (1913), by Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father
of Indian cinema. By the next decade, the output of Indian cinema was an average of
27 films per year. On the other hand, in the Philippines, the first film produced and
made in the Philippines was La Vida de Jose Rizal in 1912 by Edward Meyer
Gross. José Nepomuceno, bought his first film equipment from Albert Yearsley and
Edward Meyer Gross on May 15, 1917 and for the next two years, Nepomuceno
practiced using the equipment in preparation for making the first locally produced
feature film of the Philippines. The first locally produced film in the Philippines
is Dalagang Bukid. The film was released with English, Spanish, and Tagalog
subtitles. During its theatrical run, leading actress Atang de la Rama had to
sing Nabasag ang Banga (a song which is a part of the film) for every screening of
the film in Manila, along with three others playing a violin, a cornet, and a piano
In the 1920s, the newborn Soviet cinema was the most radically innovative.
There, the craft of editing, especially, surged forward, going beyond its previous role
in advancing a story. Sergei Eisenstein perfected the technique of so-called dialectical
or intellectual montage, which strove to make non-linear, often violently clashing,
images express ideas and provoke emotional and intellectual reactions in the viewer.
Jewish cinema, particularly the Yiddish theater of Ashkenazi Jews, made its
mark from the 1930s onward. Over 100 films were made in Yiddish, although many
are now lost. Prominent films included Shulamith (1931), the first Yiddish musical on
film His Wife's Lover (1931), A Daughter of Her People (1932), the anti-Nazi
film The Wandering Jew (1933), The Yiddish King Lear (1934), Shir
Hashirim (1935), the biggest Yiddish film hit of all time Yidl Mitn Fidl (1936), Where
Is My Child? (1937), Green Fields (1937), Dybuk (1937), The Singing
Blacksmith (1938), Tevya (1939), Mirele Efros (1939), Lang ist der Weg (1948),
and God, Man and Devil (1950). Additionally, the films of the Marx Brothers, Mel
Brooks, and Woody Allen have left a lasting mark on cinema.

Early sound era

Sound films began being produced in Asia from the 1930s. Notable early
talkies from the cinema of Japan included Kenji Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion (Gion
no shimai, 1936), Osaka Elegy (1936) and The Story of the Last
Chrysanthemums (1939), along with Sadao Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper
Balloons (1937) and Mikio Naruse's Wife, Be Like A Rose! (Tsuma Yo Bara No Yoni,
1935), which was one of the first Japanese films to gain a theatrical release in the U.S.
However, with increasing censorship, the left-leaning tendency films of directors such
as Daisuke Ito also began to come under attack. A few Japanese sound shorts were
made in the 1920s and 1930s, but Japan's first feature-length talkie was Fujiwara
Yoshie no furusato (1930), which used the 'Mina Talkie System'. In 1935, Yasujirō
Ozu also directed An Inn in Tokyo, considered a precursor to the neorealism genre.
Ardeshir Irani released Alam Ara, the first Indian talking film, on March 14,
1931. Following the inception of 'talkies' in India some film stars were highly sought
after and earned comfortable incomes through acting. As sound technology advanced
the 1930s saw the rise of music in Indian cinema with musicals such as Indra
Sabha and Devi Devyani marking the beginning of song-and-dance in India's
films. Studios emerged across major cities such as Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai as
filmmaking became an established craft by 1935, exemplified by the success
of Devdas, which had managed to enthrall audiences nationwide

Golden Age
Following the end of World War II by the mid-1940s, the period from the late
1940s to the 1960s is considered the 'Golden Age' of Asian cinema. Many of the most
critically acclaimed Asian films of all time were produced during this period,
including Yasujirō Ozu's Late Spring (1949) and Tokyo Story (1953); Akira
Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Throne of
Blood (1957); Kenji Mizoguchi's The Life of Oharu (1952), Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
and Ugetsu (1954); Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music
Room (1958) and Charulata (1964); Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke
Phool (1959); and Fei Mu's Spring in a Small Town (1948), Raj
Kapoor's Awaara (1951), Mikio Naruse's Floating Clouds (1955), Mehboob
Khan's Mother India (1957), and Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha (1962).
During Japanese cinema's 'Golden Age' of the 1950s and 1960s, successful
films included Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Hidden
Fortress (1958) by Akira Kurosawa, as well as Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953)
and Ishirō Honda's Godzilla (1954). These films have had a profound influence on
world cinema. In particular, Kurosawa's Seven Samurai has been remade several
times as Western films, such as The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Battle Beyond the
Stars (1980), and has also inspired several Bollywood films, such as Sholay (1975)
and China Gate (1998). Rashomon was also remade as The Outrage (1964), and
inspired films with "Rashomon effect" storytelling methods, such as Andha
Naal (1954), The Usual Suspects (1995) and Hero (2002). The Hidden Fortress was
also the inspiration behind George Lucas' Star Wars (1977). The Japanese New
Wave began in the late 1950s and continued into the 1960s. Other famous Japanese
filmmakers from this period include Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Hiroshi
Inagaki and Nagisa Oshima. Japanese cinema later became one of the main
inspirations behind the New Hollywood movement of the 1960s to 1980s.
During Indian cinema's 'Golden Age' of the 1950s and 1960s, it was producing
200 films annually, while Indian independent films gained greater recognition through
international film festivals. One of the most famous was The Apu
Trilogy (1955–1959) from critically acclaimed Bengali film director Satyajit Ray,
whose films had a profound influence on world cinema, with directors such as Akira
Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François
Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Carlos Saura, Jean-Luc Godard, Isao Takahata, Gregory
Nava, Ira Sachs, Wes Anderson and Danny Boyle being influenced by his cinematic
style. According to Michael Sragow of The Atlantic Monthly, the
"youthful coming-of-age dramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties
owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy". Subrata Mitra's cinematographic
technique of bounce lighting also originates from The Apu Trilogy. Satyajit Ray's
success led to the establishment of the 'Parallel Cinema' movement, which was at its
peak during the 1950s and 1960s. Other famous Indian filmmakers from this period
include Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Bimal Roy, K. Asif and Mehboob
Khan.
The cinema of China experienced a 'Golden Age' in the late 1940s. In 1946, Cai
Chusheng returned to Shanghai to revive the Lianhua name as the "Lianhua Film
Society." This in turn became Kunlun Studios which would go on to become one of
the most important Chinese studios of the era, putting out the classics, Myriads of
Lights (1948), The Spring River Flows East (1947), and Crows and
Sparrows (1949). Wenhua's romantic drama Spring in a Small Town (1948), a film by
director Fei Mu shortly prior to the revolution, is often regarded by Chinese film
critics as one of the most important films in the history of Chinese cinema, with it
being named by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004 as the greatest
Chinese-language film ever made.
The cinema of Malaysia also had its 'Golden Age' in the post-war period of the
1950s and 1960s. The period saw the introduction of the studio system of filmmaking
in Malaysia and influx of influences from Hollywood, the emerging cinema of Hong
Kong, and particularly the Indian and Japanese film industries which were themselves
experiencing a Golden Age.
The cinema of South Korea also experienced a 'Golden Age' in the late 1950s
and 1960s, beginning with director Lee Kyu-hwan's tremendously successful remake
of Chunhyang-jon (1955). That year also saw the release of Yangsan Province by the
renowned director, Kim Ki-young, marking the beginning of his productive career.
Both the quality and quantity of filmmaking had increased rapidly by the end of the
1950s. South Korean films, such as Lee Byeong-il's 1956 comedy Sijibganeun nal
(The Wedding Day), had begun winning international awards. In contrast to the
beginning of the 1950s, when only 5 movies were made per year, 111 films were
produced in South Korea in 1959. The year 1960 saw the production of Kim
Ki-young's The Housemaid and Yu Hyun-mok's Aimless Bullet, both of which have
been listed among the best Korean films ever made.
The late 1950s and 1960s was also a 'Golden Age' for Philippine cinema, with
the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in
cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio system produced frenetic activity
in the local film industry as many films were made annually and several local talents
started to earn recognition abroad. One such honor was bestowed to Manuel Conde's
immortal movie Gengis Khan (1950) when it was accepted for screening at the 13th
Venice Film Festival. Other awards include Gerardo de Leon's "Ifugao" (1954) and
Lamberto Avellana's "Anak Dalita". By the end of the decade Philippine cinema had
developed into a major force in the Asian region. The premiere Philippine directors of
the era included Gerardo de Leon, Gregorio Fernandez, Eddie Romero, Lamberto
Avellana, and Cirio Santiago.
The 1960s is often cited as being the 'golden age' of Pakistani cinema. Many
A-stars were introduced in this period in time and became legends on the silver
screen. As black-and-white became obsolete, Pakistan saw the introduction of its first
colour films, the first being Munshi Dil's Azra in early 1960s, Zahir
Rehan's Sangam (first full-length coloured film) in 1964, and Mala (first coloured
cinemascope film). In 1961, the political film Bombay Wallah was released, based on
the city of Bombay in neighbouring India, in the wake of the growing tension between
the nations. In 1962, Shaheed (Martyr) pronounced the Palestine issue on the silver
screen and became an instant hit, leading to a changing tide in the attitude of
filmmakers.[citation needed]
The 1960s was the "golden age" of Cambodian cinema. Several production
companies were started and more movie theaters were built throughout the country.
More than 300 movies were made in Cambodia during the era. A number of Khmer
language films were well received in its neougbouring countries at the time. Among
the classic films from Cambodia during this period were Lea Haey Duong
Dara (Goodbye Duong Dara) and Pos Keng Kang (The Snake King's Wife) by Tea
Lim Kun and Sabbseth, and An Euil Srey An (Khmer After Angkor) by Ly Bun Yim.
The range of Jewish entrepreneurs in the American film industry is
considerable: Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, the Warner Brothers, David O.
Selznick, Marcus Loew, and Adolph Zukor, Fox, and so forth. A more specifically
Jewish sensibility can be seen in the films of the Marx Brothers, Mel Brooks, or
Woody Allen; other examples of specifically Jewish films from the Hollywood film
industry are the Barbra Streisand vehicle Yentl (1983), or John Frankenheimer's The
Fixer (1968). In 1966, 2.6 million Israelis went to the cinema over 50 million times.
From 1968, when television broadcasting began, theaters began to close down, first in
the periphery, then in major cities. 330 standalone theaters were torn down or
redesigned as multiplex theaters.

Modern era
By the late '60s and early '70s, Japanese cinema had begun to become seriously
affected by the collapse of the studio system. As Japanese cinema slipped into a
period of relative low visibility, the cinema of Hong Kong entered a dramatic
renaissance of its own, largely a side effect of the development of the wuxia blending
of action, history, and spiritual concerns. Several major figures emerged in Hong
Kong at this time - perhaps most famously, King Hu, whose 1966 Come Drink With
Me was a key influence upon many subsequent Hong Kong cinematic developments.
Shortly thereafter, the American-born Bruce Lee became a global icon in the 1970s.
From 1969 onwards, the Iranian New Wave led to the growth of Iranian
cinema, which would later go on to achieve international acclaim in the 1980s and
1990s. The most notable figures of the Iranian New Wave are Abbas
Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Majid Majidi, Bahram Beizai, Darius Mehrjui, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf, Masoud Kimiay, Sohrab Shahid-Saless, Parviz Kimiavi, Samira
Makhmalbaf, Amir Naderi, and Abolfazl Jalili. Features of New Wave Iranian film, in
particular the works of Kiarostami, have been classified by some as postmodern.
The 1970s also saw the establishment of Bangladeshi cinema following the country's
independence in 1971. One of the first films produced in Bangladesh after
independence was Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titas) in 1973 by
acclaimed director Ritwik Ghatak, whose stature in Bengali cinema is comparable to
that of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. Another great film of Bangladesh is Mita's
'Lathial' (The striker), were the best movies of the year of 1975. 'Lathial' got first
National Award as the best film, and mita got first National Award as best director.
In the cinema of India, the 1970s saw a decline in 'Parallel Cinema' and the rise
of commercial Hindi cinema in the form of enduring masala films, a genre largely
pioneered by screenwriter duo Salim–Javed, with films such as the Mumbai
underworld crime drama Deewaar (1975) and the "Curry Western"
movie Sholay (1975), which solidified Amitabh Bachchan's position as a lead actor.
Commercial cinema further grew throughout the 1980s and the 1990s with the release
of films such as Mr. India (1987), Qayamat Se Qayamat
Tak (1988), Tezaab (1988), Chandni (1989), Maine Pyar
Kiya (1989), Baazigar (1993), Darr (1993), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994)
and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995).[51] By this time, the term "Bollywood"
was coined to refer to the Hindi-language Bombay (now Mumbai) film industry. The
most successful Indian actors between the 1990s and the 2010s are Aamir
Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
During the 1980s, Japanese cinema - aided by the rise of independent
filmmaking and the spectacular success of anime - began to make something of an
international comeback. Simultaneously, a new post-Mao Zedong generation
of Chinese filmmakers began to gain global attention. Another group of filmmakers,
centered around Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, launched what has become
known as the "Taiwanese New Wave".
The 1980s is also considered the Golden Age of Hong Kong action
cinema. Jackie Chan reinvented the martial arts film genre with a new emphasis on
elaborate and dangerous stunts and slapstick humour, beginning with Project
A (1983). John Woo began the "heroic bloodshed" genre based on triads, beginning
with A Better Tomorrow (1986). The Hong Kong New Wave also occurred during this
period, led by filmmakers such as Tsui Hark.
With the post-1980 rise in popularity of East Asian cinema in the West, Western
audiences are again becoming familiar with many of the industry's filmmakers and
stars. A number of these key players, such as Chow Yun-fat and Zhang Ziyi, have
"crossed over", working in Western films. Others have gained exposure through the
international success of their films, though many more retain more of a "cult" appeal,
finding a degree of Western success through DVD sales rather than cinema releases.
In the modern era, the success of Israeli and diaspora Jewish cinema can be
observed in industry giants ranging from Michael Ovitz, Michael Eisner, Lew
Wasserman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen. However, few
of these ever focused on Jewish issues with the sometime exception of Spielberg. In
the first decade of the 21st century, several Israeli films won awards in film festivals
around the world. Prominent films of this period include Late Marriage (Dover
Koshashvili), Broken Wings, Walk on Water and Yossi & Jagger (Eytan Fox), Nina's
Tragedies, Campfire and Beaufort (Joseph Cedar), Or (My Treasure) (Keren
Yedaya), Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher), The Band's Visit (Eran
Kolirin) Waltz With Bashir (Ari Folman), and Ajami. In 2011, Strangers No
More won the Oscar for best Short Documentary.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Asia

AFRICA

African cinema is film production in Africa. It dates back to the early 20th
century, when film reels were the primary cinematic technology in use. During the
colonial era, African life was shown only by the work of white, colonial, Western
filmmakers, who depicted blacks in a negative fashion, as exotic "others". There is no
one single African cinema; there are differences between North African and
Sub-Saharan cinema, and between the cinemas of different countries.
The cinema of Egypt is one of the
oldest in the world. Auguste and Louis
Lumière screened their films in
Alexandria and Cairo in 1896 and the first
short documentary was filmed by
Egyptians in 1907. In 1935 the MISR
film [fr] studio in Cairo began producing
mostly formulaic comedies and musicals,
but also films like Kamal Selim's The
Will (1939). Egyptian cinema flourished
in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, considered
its golden age. Youssef Chahine's
seminal Cairo Station (1958)
foreshadowed Hitchcock's Psycho and
laid a foundation for Arab film.
The Nigerian film industry is the largest in Africa in terms of
value[clarification needed], number of annual films, revenue and popularity. It is also
the second largest film producer in the world. In 2016 Nigeria's film industry
contributed 2.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

Colonial era
During the colonial era, Africa was represented exclusively by Western
filmmakers. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Western filmmakers made
films that depicted black Africans as "exoticized", "submissive workers" or as "savage
or cannibalistic". For example, see Kings of the Cannibal Islands in 1909, Voodoo
Vengeance (1913) and Congorilla (1932). Colonial era films portrayed Africa as
exotic, without history or culture. Examples abound and include jungle epics based on
the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the adventure film The
African Queen (1951), and various adaptations of H. Rider Haggard's novel King
Solomon's Mines (1885). Much early ethnography "focused on highlighting the
differences between indigenous people and the white civilised man, thus reinforcing
colonial propaganda". Marc Allégret's first film,Voyage au Congo (1927) respectfully
portrayed the Masa people, in particular a young African entertaining his little brother
with a baby crocodile on a string. Yet the Africans were portrayed as human but not
equals; a dialogue card for example referred to the movements of a traditional dance
as naive. His lover, writer André Gide, accompanied Allégret and wrote a book also
titled Voyage au Congo. Allégret later made Zouzou, starring Josephine Baker, the
first major film starring a black woman. Baker had caused a sensation in the Paris arts
scene by dancing in the Revue Nègre [fr] clad only in a string of bananas.

In the French colonies Africans were prohibited by the 1934 Laval Decree from
making films of their own. The ban stunted the growth of film as a means of African
expression, political, cultural, and artistic. Congolese Albert Mongita did make The
Cinema Lesson in 1951 and in 1953 Mamadou Touré made Mouramani based on a
folk story about a man and his dog. In 1955, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra – originally
from Benin, but educated in Senegal – along with his colleagues from Le Group
Africain du Cinema, shot a short film in Paris, Afrique-sur-Seine (1955). Vieyra was
trained in filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC)
in Paris, and despite the ban on filmmaking in Africa, was granted permission to make
a film in France. Considered the first film directed by a black African, Afrique Sur
Seine explores the difficulties of being an African in 1950s France.
Portuguese colonies came to independence with no film production facilities at
all, since the colonial government there restricted film-making to colonialist
propaganda, emphasizing the inferiority of indigenous populations. Therefore, little
thought was given until independence to developing authentic African voices.
In the mid-1930s, the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment was conducted in an
attempt to "educate the Bantu, mostly about hygiene. Only three films from this
project survive; they are kept at the British Film Institute.
 Before the colonies' independence, few anti-colonial films were produced.
Examples included Statues Also Die (Les statues meurent aussi) by Chris
Marker and Alain Resnais, about European theft of African art. The second part of
this film was for 10 years banned in France.) Afrique 50 by René Vautier, showed
anti-colonial riots in Côte d'Ivoire and in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso).
Also doing film work in Africa at this time was French ethnographic
filmmaker Jean Rouch, controversial with both French and African audiences. Film
documentaries such as Jaguar (1955), Les maitres fous (1955), Moi, un noir (1958)
and La pyramide humaine (1961). Rouch's documentaries were not explicitly
anti-colonial, but did challenge perceptions of colonial Africa and give a new voice to
Africans. Although Rouch was accused by Ousmane Sembene and others of seeing
Africans "as if they are insects," Rouch was an important figure in the developing
field of African film and was the first person to work with Africans, of whom many
had important careers in African cinema (Oumarou Ganda, Safi Faye and Moustapha
Alassane, and others).
Because most films made prior to independence were egregiously racist in
nature, African filmmakers of the independence era – such as Ousmane Sembene and
Oumarou Ganda, among others – saw filmmaking as an important political tool for
rectifying the erroneous image of Africans put forward by Western filmmakers and
for reclaiming the image of Africa for Africans.

Post-independence and 1970s

The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène
Ousmane's La Noire de... also known as Black Girl. It showed the despair of an
African woman who has to work as a maid in France. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in
1966. Initially a writer, Sembène had turned to cinema to reach a wider audience. He
is still considered the "father of African cinema". Sembène's native Senegal continued
to be the most important place of African film production for more than a decade.
With the creation of the African film festival FESPACO in Burkina Faso in
1969, African film created its own forum. FESPACO now takes place every two years
in alternation with the Carthago film festival in Tunisia.
The Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (Fédération Panafricaine des
Cinéastes, or FEPACI) was formed in 1969 to promote African film industries in
terms of production, distribution and exhibition. From its inception, FEPACI was seen
as a critical partner organization to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now
the African Union. FEPACI looks at the role of film in the politico-economic and
cultural development of African states and the continent as a whole.
Med Hondo's Soleil O, shot in 1969, was immediately recognized. No less
politically engaged than Sembène, he chose a more controversial filmic language to
show what it means to be a stranger in France with the "wrong" skin colour.

1980s and 1990s

Souleymane Cissé's Yeelen (Mali, 1987) was the first film made by a Black
African to compete at Cannes. Cheick Oumar Sissoko's Guimba (Mali, 1995) was
also well received in the west.
 Many films of the 1990s, including Quartier Mozart by Jean-Pierre
Bekolo (Cameroon, 1992), are situated in the globalized African metropolis.
Nigerian cinema experienced a large growth in the 1990s with the increasing
availability of home video cameras in Nigeria, and soon put Nollywood in the nexus
for West African English-language films. Nollywood produced 1844 movies in 2013
alone.
The last movie theatre in Kinshasa shut down in 2004. Many of the former
cinemas were converted to churches. In 2009 the UN refugee agency
screened Breaking the Silence in South Kivu and Katanga Province. The film deals
with rape in the Congolese civil wars.
However a 200-seat cinema, MTS Movies House, opened in 2016 in
Brazzaville. In April 2018, construction began on a new cinema in Brazzaville.
A first African Film Summit took place in South Africa in 2006. It was
followed by FEPACI 9th Congress.
The African Movie Academy Awards were launched in 2004, marking the
growth of local film industries like that of Nigeria as well as the development and
spread of the film industry culture in sub-Saharan Africa.

2000s and 2010s

Contemporary African cinema deals with a wide variety of themes relating to
modern issues and universal problems.
Migration and relations between African and European countries is a common
theme among many African films. Abderrahmane Sissako's film Waiting for
Happiness portrays a Mauritanian city struggling against foreign influences through
the journey of a migrant coming home from Europe. Migration is also an important
theme in Mahamat Saleh Haroun's film Une Saison en France, which shows the
journey of a family from the Central African Republic seeking asylum in
France. Haroun is part of the Chadian diaspora in France, and uses the film to explore
aspects of this diasporan experience.
Afrofuturism is a growing genre, encompassing Africans both on the continent
and in the diaspora who tell science or speculative fiction stories involving Africa and
African people. Neill Blomkamp's District 9 is a well-known example, portraying an
alien invasion of South Africa. Wanuri Kahiu's short film Pumzi portrays the futuristic
fictional Maitu community in Africa 35 years after World War III.
Directors including Haroun and Kahiu have expressed concerns about the lack
of cinema infrastructure and appreciation in various African countries. However,
organizations such as the Changamoto arts fund are providing more resources and
opportunities to African filmmakers.

2020s
Some African countries suffer a lack of freedom of speech, that undermine the
film industry. This is specially severe in Equatorial Guinea. The feature film The
Writer From a Writer From a Country Without Bookstores is the first to be shot in the
country and critic with Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's dictatorship, one of the
longest lasting in the world.

Themes
African cinema, like cinema in other world regions, covers a wide variety of
topics. In Algiers in 1975, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI)
adopted the Charte du cinéaste africain (Charter of the African cinéaste), which
recognized the importance of postcolonial and neocolonial realities in African cinema.
The filmmakers start by recalling the neocolonial condition of African societies. "The
situation contemporary African societies live in is one in which they are dominated on
several levels: politically, economically and culturally." African filmmakers stressed
their solidarity with progressive filmmakers in other parts of the world. African
cinema is often seen a part of Third Cinema.
Some African filmmakers, for example Ousmane Sembène, try to give African
history back to African people by remembering the resistance to European and
Islamic domination.
The African filmmaker is often compared to the traditional griot. Like griots,
filmmakers' task is to express and reflect communal experiences. Patterns of
African oral literature often recur in African films. African film has also been
influenced by traditions from other continents, such as Italian
neorealism, Brazilian Cinema Novo and the theatre of Bertolt Brecht.
In Mauritania CINEPARC RIBAT AL BAHR is an open air Drive-in Cinema
located in Nouakchott, the only one of its kind in Africa. In addition to the projection
schedule, the drive-in have a new application iOS and Android provides you with the
biggest international movie database in which you can find information such as plot
summaries, cast members, production crews, critics reviews, ratings, fan trivia, and
much more about movies, series, and all cinematic work.

Source;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Africa

EUROPE

Cinema of Europe refers to the film industries and films produced in the
continent of Europe.
Europeans were the pioneers of the motion picture industry, with several
innovative engineers and artists making an impact especially at the end of the 19th
century. Louis Le Prince became famous for his 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene, the
first known celluloid film recorded.
The Skladanowsky brothers from Berlin used their "Bioscop" to amaze
the Wintergarten theatre audience with the first film show ever, from November 1
through 31, 1895. The Lumière Brothers established the Cinematograph; which
initiated the silent film era, a period where European cinema was a major commercial
success. It remained so until the art-hostile environment of World War II. These
notable discoveries provide a glimpse of the power of early European cinema and its
long-lasting influence on cinema today.
Notable European early film movements include German
Expressionism (1920s), Soviet Montage (1920s), French Impressionist
Cinema (1920s), and Italian neorealism (1940s); it was a period now seen in
retrospect as "The Other Hollywood". War has triggered the birth of Art and in this
case, the birth of cinema.
German Expressionism evoked people's emotions through strange,
nightmare-like visions and settings, heavily stylized and extremely visible to the
eye. Soviet Montage shared similarities too and created famous film edits known as
the Kino-eye effect, Kuleshov effect and intellectual montage.
French Impressionist Cinema has crafted the essence of cinematography, as
France was a film pioneering country that showcased the birth of cinema using the
medium invented by the Lumière Brothers. Italian Neorealism designed the vivid
reality through a human lens by creating low budget films outside directly on the
streets of Italy. All film movements were heavily influenced by the war but that
played as a catalyst to drive the cinema industry to its most potential in Europe.
The notable movements throughout early European cinema featured stylistic
conventions, prominent directors and historical films that have influenced modern
cinema until today. Below you will find a list of directors, films, film awards, film
festivals and actors that were stars born from these film movements.

20th century
According to one study, "In the 1900s the European film industry was in good
shape. European film companies pioneered both technological innovations such as
projection, colour processes, and talking pictures, and content innovations such as the
weekly newsreel, the cartoon, the serial, and the feature film. They held a large share
of the US market, which at times reached 60 percent.
The French film companies were quick in setting up foreign production and
distribution subsidiaries in European countries and the US and dominated
international film distribution before the mid-1910s. By the early 1920s, all this had
changed. The European film industry only held a marginal share of the US market and
a small share of its home markets. Most large European companies sold their foreign
subsidiaries and exited from film production at home, while the emerging Hollywood
studios built their foreign distribution networks."
The European Film Academy was founded in 1988 to celebrate European
cinema through the European Film Awards annually.
Philippe Binant realized, on 2 February 2000, the first digital cinema projection
in Europe, with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments, in
Paris.
Founded in 1992 with funding from the MEDIA programme Creative
Europe and from the CNC, France, Europa Cinemas is the first film theatre network
focusing on European films. Its objective is to provide operational and financial
support to cinemas that commit themselves to screen a significant number of
European non-national films, to offer events and initiatives as well as promotional
activities targeted at Young Audiences. Thanks to the support of Eurimages and the
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the influence of Europa Cinemas extends to
Eastern European countries, to the Balkans, to Russia and to Turkey.
Europa Cinemas in 2019: 43 countries, 725 cities, 1,204 cinemas, 2,992 screens

 MEDIA: 33 countries, 602 cities, 1,014 cinemas, 2,428 screens

 EURIMAGES: 3 countries, 37 cities, 58 cinemas, 205 screens
 MAE: 5 countries, 5 cities, 6 cinemas, 15 screens
Today US productions dominate the European market. On average European
films are distributed in only 2 or 3 countries; US productions in nearly 10.The top 10
most watched films in Europe between 1996 and 2016 were all US productions or
co-productions.
Excluding US productions the most watched movie in that period was The
Intouchables, a French production, like most of the other movies in the top 10. In
2016–2017 the only (partially) European film in the top ten of the most watched films
in Europe was Dunkirk. Excluding it (which was a Netherlands, UK, France and
US co-production) the European film with the best results was Paddington 2, which
sold 9.1 million tickets.

German Expressionism
German expressionism surfaced as a German art movement in the early 20th
century. The focus of this movement was at the inner ideas and feelings of the artists
over the replication of facts. Some of the characteristic features of German
expressionism were bright colors and simplified shapes, brushstrokes and gestural
marks. The two different inspirations of film style that German expressionism drives
from are horror films and film Noir.
Prominent German Expressionism directors

 Robert Wiene
 Fritz Lang
 F. W. Murnau
 Arthur Robison
 Paul Leni

Famous German Expressionism films:

 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) directed by Robert Wienne

 Nosferatu (1922) directed by F. W. Murnau
 Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) directed by Fritz Lang
 Waxworks(1924) directed by Paul Leni

World War I
The German film industry was not ready when the First World War started. In
the initial days of the war's outbreak, nearly everyone in the industry was unsafe. First
few victories achieved in the west changed the mood of the Germans and they became
more patriotic.
As a result of this, owners of movie theaters in Germany decided to remove all
English and French films from the repertoire of German movies. Around the same
time, as borders underwent separation because of war and the international trade was
closed, Germans couldn't really connect with the international cinema for almost a
decade. Around the time July 1914 ended, there were a lot of movies in the German
market.
However, as the First World War started, many enemy states temporarily
banned the films, and censorship decrees were introduced. All of these factors
collectively caused an acute dearth of feature films. German film producers started
supporting war programs of patriotic nature around the end of August 1914.
Movies started to contain scenes illustrating war-related ideas shaped by
history, and the scenes were deemed historically true representation of reality. Such a
depiction of war addressed all needs of classical communication criteria, so they met
with economic success. Producers started making movies on many other subjects
around the start of 1915. A common theme of all those movies was a successful
journey of the protagonist through the war that comes as a test in the way of final
destination.

Censorship
While there were heavy regulations placed on the press releases, no uniform
rules existed for the censorship of picture. During the course of the First World War,
censors which were enacted newly also placed a ban on the movies that had been
approved for production already as they were deemed unsuitable for the war.
Censorship in that time was very decentralized and it deterred the surfacing of a
concerted film market in Germany.
The first movie company of Germany to be allowed to shoot the scenes of war
officially was EIKO-film. The permission was granted on 2 September
1914. However, first war movies made by EIKO-film were confiscated by
the Berlin police on 12 September 1914 because of the doubts of surveillance. Such
confiscation had also been observed in certain other areas of the country. It was in
October 1914 when the cinemas got their first war newsreel. But the engagement of
theater operators in the occupied territories’ military service limited film viewing. The
collective effect of these limitations and censorship caused a decrease in war
cinematography.

Post World War I

Unlike the war movies made in the war's initial phases, the focus of directors
and producers in the war's aftermath increasingly shifted towards feature films. This
laid the basis of more professional movie production. Along with that, a national
movie culture started to be expressed after the war. With the increased demand for
German movies, many new film making companies emerged. It was a time of
continuous expansion of the Berlin film industry.
From the mid-1915, German producers started making detective film series but
failed to meet the demand even though they were also making serial productions
related to other genres. Owing to the censorship laws and legal restrictions, the French
and British movies obtained before the First World War continued to be shown in
most cinemas of Germany in 1915 till a ban was imposed on them. Therefore,
operators of cinemas looked for movies made by producers from neutral countries.
There was a single cause of official propaganda during the initial half of the war
as per the German government. The meaning and significance of war had become
quite questionable by the year 1916 with the commencement of a re-evaluation of
movies. Directors and producers started to consider designs suitable for the period
after the end of the war.
Owing to the growing dissatisfaction of people with the military situation and
increasing shortage of food, the military, and the state resolved to establish
the Universum-Film AG (Ufa) on 18 December 1917. It was a commercially oriented
new movie making company that was found with the purpose to make feature films
with just concealed propaganda. The purpose to be served by these feature films was
to stabilize the wartime morale and boost it.
The founders wanted to feature civilian, non-warlike and inoffensive material in
the films to play a part in the victory by drawing people's attention away from the
war. the First World War played an important role in the growth as well as technical
changes in the laws and operation of cinema in Germany. German producers have
made many artistic and technical contributions to early film technology.

Soviet Cinema
The Soviet Union cinema comprises movies created by the constituent republics
of the Soviet Union. Predominantly produced in the Russian language, the films
reflect pre-Soviet elements including the history, language, and culture of the Union.
It is different from the Russian cinema, even though the central government in
Moscow regulates the movies.
Among their republican films, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan were
the most productive. Besides, Moldavia, Belarus, and Lithuania have also been
prominent but to a lesser extent. The film industry was completely nationalized for a
major part of the history of the country. It was governed by the laws and philosophies
advocated by the monopoly Soviet Communist Party that brought a revolutionized
perspective of the cinema in the form of ‘social realism’ that contrasted with the view
that was in place before the Soviet Union or even after it.
The Russians had an instinct for film-making from the very start. The first film
dramatized by the Russians was made in the year 1908, which gives the Russian
cinematography the status of one of the oldest industries in the world. There were
more than 1300 cinemas in Russia till the year 1913 and the country had produced
over 100 movies which had a profound influence on the film making of the American
and European origin.

Censorship
Films in the Soviet Union started to be censored especially ever since
November 1917 when the People's Commissariat of Education was created. It was
almost a month after the Soviet state was itself established. After
the Bolsheviks gained strength in the Soviet Union in the year 1917, they had a major
deficit of political legitimacy. Political foundations were uneasy and the cinema
played an important role in the protection of the USSR's existence.
Movies played a central role at that time since they served to convince the
masses about the legitimacy of the regime and their status as the bearers of historical
facts. Some of the prominent movies of the time include ‘The Great Citizen’ and
‘Circus’. A film committee was set up in March 1919 to establish a school view a
view to training the technicians and actors so that a modest movie production
schedule would be commenced. The committee was headed by a long-term Bolshevik
party's member D.I. Leshchenko, In addition to looking after and ensuring the
correctness of genres and themes of the film companies, Leshchenko also worked to
deter the flaring up of anti-Soviet movie propaganda. It was particularly important
because of the war communism in that era.
The documentaries and features of Soviet cinema thrived at their best in the
1920s. Filmmakers enthusiastically engaged themselves in the development of the
first socialist state of the world. Rather than having to create money for the
Hollywood film industry, the filmmakers saw this as an opportunity to focus on the
education of people of the new Soviet. The first leader of the country to become the
U.S.S.R. and founder of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin,
visualized the cinema as a technological art that was best suited for a state established
on the basis of the conversion of humanity by means of technology and
industry. Cinema took the position of the most valuable form means of art production
and propagation across masses. The decade is known for experimentation with
different styles of movie-making.

The 1920s
During the 1920s, the USSR was getting a New Economic Policy. It was a
decade when certain industries had a relaxed state control that provided people with a
sense of mini-capitalism inside the Communist economy. That was a time of
prosperity of the private movie theaters, and together with it, the whole Soviet movie
industry thrived. American movies had a major influence on the Russians, unlike
Soviet productions. Many Hollywood stars like Mary Pickford and Douglas
Fairbanks were idolized as heroes.
The heroic Fairbanks became a sex symbol and the contemporary star system
got popularity with Pickford. The Soviet reaction to the Hollywood influence was a
mix of repulsion and admiration. Near the end of 1924, Sovkino and ARK were
established which were two organizations that influenced the cinema of the Soviet
Union the most in the decade. That was a time when the ambitious, zealous, and
young film community members had bright plans for the film industry. Their efforts
were directed at making the processes of production and distribution more effective
and organized and raising the status of workers in the industry. In other words, they
tried to publicize the cinema.
Prominent soviet cinema directors

 Mikheil Chiaureli
 Grigori Aleksandrov
 Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk
 Alexander Dovzhenko
 Sergei Eisenstein
 Dziga Vertov
Famous soviet cinema films

 Battleship Potemkin (1925) Directed by Sergei Eisenstein

 Jolly Fellow (1934) Directed by Grigori Aleksandrov
 Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Directed by Dziga Vertov
 Earth (1930) Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko

French Cinema
The Rise of Movement/Film Era
Like the other forms of art, film cinema portrays the authenticity that faces
several people. France can be considered one of the main pioneers of the entire global
film industry. The proof of this claim that between 1895 – 1905 France invented the
concept of cinema when the Lumière brothers first film screened on 28 December
1895, called The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, in Paris.
It lasted only 50 seconds but it launched and gave birth to the new medium of
expression in the film industry. Lumiére from France has been credited since 1895
and was recognized as the discoverer of the motion camera. However, despite other
inventors preceding him, his achievement is often believed to be in the perspective of
this creative era.
Lumiere's suitcase-sized cinematography, which was movable served as a film
dispensation unit, camera, and projector all in one. During the 1890s, film cinemas
became a few minutes long and commenced to consist of various shots too. Other
pioneers were also French including Niépce, Daguerre, and Marey, during the 1880s
they were able to combine science and art together to launch the film industry.
The pioneers of the French film were influenced by their historical heritage
stemming from the need to express the narrative of a nation. The 19th century in
France was a period of nationalism launched by the French Revolution
(1789–1792).[20] Marey (1830- 1904) invented the photo gun (1882) which was
developed to function and be able to have a photographic paper of 150 images in
motion. Emile Reynaud 1844-1918 was the founding father of animation.
The short-animated film Pantomimes Lumineuses exhibited during 1892 at
the Musee Grevin was developed as a result of his invention,
the Praxinoscope projector. This invention brought together color and hand-drawn
drawings. Film Company was established as France's first film studio before Pathe
Film Studio and founded by Gaumont (1864-1946).[18] In 1907, Gaumont was the
largest movie studio in the world, it also prompted the work of the first female
filmmaker Guy-Blachéwho created the film L'enfant de la barricade.

Pre-and Post-World War I French Cinema

The pre-World War I period marked the influences of France's historical past
with film not only galvanizing a period of advances in science and engineering but a
need for a film to become a platform to explore the narrative of their culture and in
doing so created a narcissistic platform. Before World War I, French and Italian
cinema dominated the European cinema. Zecca, the director general at Pathé Frères
perfected the comic version of the chase film which was inspired by Keystone
Kops. Besides, Max Linder created a comic persona that profoundly
influenced Charlie Chaplin's work.
Other films that began pre-war in France also included the Assassination of the
Duke of Guise as well as the film d’art movement in 1908. These films depicted the
realities of human life especially within the European society. Moreover, French film
produced costume spectacles that raised attention and brought global prominence
before the start of World War I.
Approximately 70% of the global films were imported from Paris studios from
Éclair, Gaumont, and Pathe before the war. However, as WWI commenced, the
French film industry declined during the war because it lost many of its resources
which were drained away to support the war. Besides, WWI blocked the exportation
of French films forcing it to reduce large productions to pay attention to low finance
film-making.
However, in the years that followed the war, American films increasingly
entered the French market because the American film industry was not affected by the
war as much. This meant that a total of 70% of Hollywood films were screened in
France. During this period, the French film industry faced a crisis as the number of its
produced features decreased and they were surpassed by their competitors including
the United States of America and Germany.

Post World War II French Cinema

After the end of World War II, the French cinema art commenced its formation
of the modern image as well as recognizing its after-impacts. Following the
establishment and growth of the American and German film industries during the
post-WWI era as well as during Great Depression. Many German and American
movies had taken the stage of the French and global market. Moreover, during WWII,
the French film industry focused mainly on the production of anti-Nazi movies
especially during the late 1940s as the war came to an end.
After this era, French film industry directors commenced addressing the issues
affecting humanism as well focused on the production of high-eminence entertaining
films. In addition, the screening of French literary classics involved La
Charterhouse and Rouge et le Noir attained spread great fame across the globe.
Besides, Nowell-Smith (2017) asserts that one of the core cinema works that gained
popularity during that period was Resnais' directed movie, Mon Amour. This led to
Cannes hosting their first International Film Festival receiving the annual status.

Styles and Conventions in French Cinema

The French New Wave which was accompanied by its cinematic forms led to a
fresh look to the French cinema. The cinema had improvised dialogue, swift scene
changes and shots that went past the standard 180 degrees axis. Besides, the camera
was not utilized to captivate the audience with a detailed narrative and extreme
visuals but instead was used to play with the anticipations of the cinema. Classically,
conventions highlighted tense control over the film making procedure. Besides, the
New Wave intentionally shunned this. Movies were usually shot in public locations
with invented dialogue and plots built on the fly.
In several means, it appeared sloppy, but it also captured an enthusiasm and
impulsiveness that no famous film could expect to equate. Moreover, the filmmakers
of the French New Wave usually abandoned the utilization of remixing their
sound. Instead, they utilized a naturalist soundtrack recorded during the capture and
illustrated unaltered even though it included intrusions and mistakes. Besides, it lent
the film a sense of freshness and energy like their other skills that were not in past
films. They used hand-held cameras which could shoot well in tight quarters
generating a familiarity that more costly and more burdensome cameras could not
rival. A majority of the New Wave films used long, extended shots which were
facilitated by these kinds of cameras. Lastly, French films used jump cuts which
threw the viewers out of the onscreen drama, unlike the traditional film making.

Avant-Garde
This was the French impressionist cinema which denotes to a cluster of French
movies and filmmakers of the 1920s. These filmmakers, however, are believed to be
responsible for producing cinemas that defined cinema. The movement happened
between 1918 and 1930 a period that saw rapid growth and change of the French and
global cinema. One of the main stimulations behind the French Impressionist
avant-garde was to discover the impression of ‘pure cinema’ and to style film into an
art form, and as an approach of symbolism and demonstration rather than merely
telling a story.
This avant-garde highlighted the association amongst realism and the camera.
This was a result of ‘photogenie’, Epstien's conception on discovering the impression
of reality specifically through the camera, emphasizing the fact that it portrays
personality in film. The obvious film techniques utilized by the French Impressionist
avant-garde are slow-motion, soft-focus, dissolves, and image alteration to develop
the creative expression.
Prominent French impressionist film directors

 Louis Delluc
 Marcel L'Herbier
 Germaine Dulac
 Jean Epstein
 Jean Renoir
 Abel Gance

Famous French impressionist films

 Nana (1926) directed by Jean Renoir

 La Femme De Nulle Part (1922) directed by Louis Delluc
 The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922) directed by Germaine Dulac
 La Dixiéme Symphonie(1918) directed by Abel Gance
 J'Accuse (1919) directed by Abel Gance
 La Roue (1923) directed by Abel Gance
 Coeur Fidéle( 1923) directed by Jean Epstien
 El Dorado (1921) directed by Marcel L'Herbier
 Napoléon (1927) directed by Abel Gance

Italian Neorealism
Rise of movement
The birth of Italian Neorealism, also known as the Golden Age came from
living in a totalitarian society under the authority of Benito Mussolini, a nationalist,
fascist leader and Prime Minister of Italy during 1922 - 1943.
One of the notable turning points in Italian cinema was Italy shifting
from Fascism to Neorealism. Mussolini has established Italy as a totalitarian state by
1925 after coming to power but it did not impact the film industry until 1926 when it
took over L’Unione Cinematografica Educativa, also known as the National Institute
of the Union of Cinematography and Education.
Neorealism depicts a modified view of reality, it gave the Italians a chance to
go outside to the streets and portray the devastating effects of World War II on
Italy. Italian Neorealism films showcased unprofessional actors purposefully since
they were considered low-budget films and shot them live on location
spots. Furthermore, they emphasized the use of non-professional actors to exhibit the
artistic beauty and sense of realism in films.
This particular film movement focused heavily on the working class population
of Italy as it also conveyed their problems and daily life to portray the perspective of
ordinary life in pre and post world war I fascist Italy. Despite the leadership, it
gradually impacted Italian films throughout that era, in fact only 5% of the fascist
films were produced between 1930 - 1943.
Fortunately, Italian Neorealism actually introduced the world to the very first
Film Festival by 1932 in Venice, it was known as, "First International Exhibition of
Cinematic Art." Since the effect of fascism on the film industry was quite slow it was
only during 1933 that a rule was enforced claiming 1 Italian film must be screened for
every 3 foreign films presented.

Pre War and post war

Before World War I Italy's cinema was mostly dominating on a national level
as a result of outstanding support from exports and the local market. Italian cinema
essentially began with the introduction of moving pictures in the late 1890s, in fact,
the first Italian film ever was a film produced during 1896 that showcased the Queen
and King's visit to Florence.
The Avant-garde movement began in 1911 with experimental works and
innovations on film and only a few films have been preserved form that time
including The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) directed by Mario Caserini.
During 1914, Italian cinema produced 1027 films, whereas a year after during
1915 only 563 films created, almost half the amount of the year prior. In the same
year, Italian femme fatale was introduced to the industry and established notable film
actresses and stars. Eleonora Duse was a famous Italian actress who was the first
featured woman and also the very first Italian in a Time Magazine. Throughout the
1930s, Cinecittà, a film studio complex was built in Rome and was a home for Italy's
star directors.
 The aftermath of World War II was also known as the neorealist period since
that introduced the most prominent and well-distinguished filmmakers, directors and
screenwriters. Italian Neorealism was the dominant movement in world cinema after
the war, in fact it was known not only for its dedicated effort to resolve and confront
societal issues but also provided an optimistic scope towards the future and
maintained the clash between individuals and society.
The Italian Neorealism films mainly revolved around themes depicting life
under an authoritative regime, poverty, and the lower class, effects of the aftermath of
the war on the Italian society. Despite Italian cinema being considered as auteur, it
was actually as good as the Hollywood films from the Box office with the graininess,
limited budget size and documentary quality like films. Italian neorealism introduced
a surge of films revolving around political and social conflicts but were cautious in
conveying doctrinaires or signs against authority. Instead, the films were heavily
influenced by literature, history, art, and photography to broaden the audience's
perspective and expand the horizon's of film enthusiasts.

Styles and conventions

Propaganda film styles constituted of a variety of factors with political motives
in contribution to the films being produced. Some of the prominent styles featured
included patriotic/military films, anti-soviet films and Italy's civilization mission in
Africa of peacekeeping among other styles. In contrast, regular genre films exhibited
melodramas, comedies and historical costume dramas. The term neorealism is defined
as new realism. The meaning derived from the word is quite sophisticated as it makes
the audience question the extent to what is a new vs. old film, as well as it restricts its
parameters in relation to society, culture and time periods. Thus, Italian
Neorealism has designed its own distinct characteristics that are based on social
realism, historical content and political devotion. The films brought a surge of raw
emotions between the actor and audience as a result of the relation
to Marxisthumanism, a concept that fulfilled the realism within the film.
In order to better understand Italian neorealism one should view it through a
lens of understanding the social class struggle. It is essential to distinguish the lower
working class minority with the wealthy high-class population and perhaps compare
and contrast their circumstances to truly comprehend the social realism in Italy. After
conducting an overview analysis and looking at the years 1945 - 1953 it was
interestingly noted that only 11% of the 822 films produced during that period would
be considered neorealist films.
Despite the great impact of World War II on Italy, Italian neorealism films
actually rejected traditional film genres and took literary text adaptations such
as Cronache Di Poveri Amanti (1954) translated as Chronicle of Poor Lovers directed
by Carlo Lizzani and Senso (1954) directed by Luchino Visconti featuring romantic
melodramas and historical costume dramas. Films made during the Italian
Neorealism period portrayed a blend of routine and day-to-day life basis to emphasize
the realistic elements as seen in numerous films including Bicycle Thieves (1948) also
known as Ladri di biciclette by Vittorio De Sica. The film was an accurate vivid
modern representation of the social economic system (Bondanella, 2009, 86). The
effects of the war were everlasting and has even shaped contemporary cinema as it
provided them stories worth sharing.
Prominent Italian neorealism film directors

 Vittorio De Sica
 Federico Fellini
 Roberto Rossellini
 Luchino Visconti
Famous Italian Neorealism films

 La Strada (1954) directed by Federico Fellini

 Rome, Open City (1945) directed by Roberto Rossellini
 Paisan( 1946) directed by Roberto Rossellini
 Germany Year Zero (1947) directed by Roberto Rossellini
 Bicycle Thieves (1948) directed by Vittorio De Sica
 La Terra Trema (1948) directed by Luchino Visconti
 II Posto (1961) directed by Ermanno Olmi

Source;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Europe

[CONCLUSION]
The historical film emerged as a strong genre form very early in cinema history
and has renewed itself many times over the course of the twentieth century and into
the twenty-first. Although the world of the past is its subject, the genre is often in the
vanguard in terms of visual style and cinematic technique. The dramatic, compelling
portraits of the past that are brought to life in the historical film have made it one of
the most prestigious as well as one of the most controversial genres in film. It
provides both a lens onto the past, which it frequently recreates with exquisite
attention to detail and period style, while also reflecting the cultural sensibility of the
period in which it was made. Above all, the historical film provides an emotional
connection to history in a way that foregrounds the power and importance of the past
in shaping the cultural imaginary in the present.
The importance of sound with the moving image should not be underestimated, it is
often as important to the film experience as the visuals themselves. Through
documenting the history and key developments of sound in film I believe this website
conveys the importance of the pioneers who brought film from the silent era to the
way we see (and hear) it today. Outlining the importance of sound in film has shown
how key it is in immersing an audience in the picture. The various functions sound
can play in terms of mood, scope and pace in a film are key to a picture's storytelling
and tone. How innovative and bold films like 'The Jazz Singer' and 'Fantasia' brought
about such a change in film is quite remarkable, they are pivotal in the development
of sound from a perceived passing novelty into the complex and grand modern
systems of today. I believe through viewing this website one would have a fresh
appreciation of how vital a role sound plays in its relationship with the moving image.