Film Movements

What is a Film Movement?

A film movement is a filmmaking trend shaped by

and reflecting the time, people, culture, social
norms, and political events of the location from
which it emerged. Often these movements get
generated by filmmakers or film critics who
formed ideas through discussion about how to
create films, then put those theories into motion.
1. French Impressionism (1918-1930)
 Filmmakers took this name from painters of the time
 Created boom in 1920s silent films
 Topics included devastation of World War I affecting human
psyche
 New techniques in non-linear editing, point-of-view
storytelling and camera work started
 Introduced the widescreen camera and even stuck a camera
operator on rollerskates to get a shot in Abel
Gance’s Napoleon
 Marcel L'Herbier experimented with stark new lighting
styles.
 What did it influence? All the films to come
2. German Expressionism (1919-1926)
 Included serious natured topics
 Inspired by the horrors and aftermath of war
 Presented damaged society with war affected and damaged characters
 Some of the directors were soldiers-turned-filmmakers like Robert
Wiene and Fritz Lang
 The Berlin’s Ufa studios created strange new epics presenting disturbing
scenes
 Canted camera angles, ugly or distorted make-up and cardboard cut-
outs created a heightened expression of the country’s inner turmoil
 What did it influence? Provided a foundation for the horror genre which
began with the 1930s Universal Monsters series.
3. Soviet Montage (1924-1935)
 Use of one of the most recognisable editing techniques in film history:
the montage
 It all kicked off when Russian director-cum-theorist Lev Kuleshov
realised that an actor’s expression wasn’t enough to convey a specific
idea, therefore juxtaposed images must. The director intercut shots of
faces with related images to generate an emotional response in his
spectators.
 Made audiences to think about an idea or feeling
 Used as a medium through which to ‘educate’ the working classes
 Rarely focused on one protagonist alone. The hero here was ‘the
people’ and many of the film’s leading characters weren’t given names
in an aim to unify the main players
 What did it influence? Every montage in cinema bears the influence of
this Soviet movement to a greater or lesser extent
4. Documentary Film Movement (1929-
1950)
 Began at the Film Unit of the Empire Marketing
Board in 1930 headed by pioneering
documentarian John Grierson
 The filmmakers were mostly young, middle-class,
educated males with liberal political views
 Later used to spread propaganda
 What did it influence? Documentary-style genre
5. Poetic Realism (1930-1939)

 Topicsincluded lost love, hardships of life,

dejection and despair
 Part of French cinema that emerged from a
particularly inglorious phase of French history
 Presented fatalistic figures
 Film crew included deeply talented pool of
writers, set designers, composers and movie stars
 What did it influence? Italian neorealism
6. Italian Neorealism (1942-1951)
 Films were made in natural settings using available
lighting, non-professional actors and minimal equipment
to capture stories of humble people scratching out a living
in straits
 Emerged due to Fascism, lack of resources and heavy
influence of foreign filmmakers and topics on Italy’s own
film production studios
 Presented blue-collar heroes and heroines played by non-
glamorous movie stars
 Gradually the movement drifted apart as its producers
used fantasy and a mixture of comedy, escapism and
drama
 What did it influence? Nouvelle Vague, Cinéma Vérité,
7. The Polish School (1955-1963)

 Created by film grads of the famous Lodz Film

School in the late '50s
 Influenced by American and European films after
Stalin’s era
 Topics addressed the scars of war and repression
with energy, like jazz musicians playing an
attractive and tragic melody
 What did it influence? The Polish ‘cinema of
moral anxiety’, Hollywood
8. Free Cinema (1956-1959)

 FreeCinema emerged from a vibrant film culture

in UK
 Opposed presentation of one sided propaganda of
the war years
 Wanted to show the country as it really was
 Used 16mm handheld cameras to get out onto the
streets and present a true depiction of the real
situation
 What did it influence? British New Wave
9. Direct Cinema (1958-1962)
 The US Direct Cinema movement imported ideas around
photojournalism into cinema
 Included politically charged documentaries
 Sought to record the action without interference
 Used lightweight portable cameras along with synchronous
sound that allowed a small team of filmmakers to move quickly
 Often described as the US equivalent of the French movement
known as Cinéma Vérité. Both involve hand-held imagery, the
sense of real life unfolding and an interest in social themes but
Cinéma Vérité sees the filmmaker interact with the subject
whereas the goal of Direct Cinema is to be completely
unobtrusive, the presence of the camera not altering the
outcome of events.
 What did it influence? Television documentaries
10. British New Wave (1958-1963)

 Presented unflattering depictions of class division

and urban life
 Directors were known as Angry Young Men
 What did it influence? Presentation of class of
have and have-nots
11. French New Wave (1959-1964)

 Directors were fresh, experimental and, crucially,

French
 They were inspired by American directors,
rejecting formalism and tradition
 The films had jump cuts, non-linear narratives
and improvisation
 What did it influence? Any film movement
prefixed by the word ‘new’ (New Hollywood, New
German, the Czech New Wave etc.)
12. Cinema Novo (1960-1972)
 Based on politics and raw cinematic enthusiasm
 Inspired by Italian neorealism
 Comprised of impassioned social dramas and
politicised directors
 Aimed at exploitative landlords and uncaring
bureaucrats
 Characterizes first wave of Latin America’s Third
Cinema would stand for: movies for the poor,
marginalised and unrepresented of the urban
 What did it influence? Third Cinema directors in
Latin America
13. Czech New Wave (1962-1968)

 Not a formal movement

 Focused on the darker side of the Iron Curtain
 Whatdid it influence? Anti-Russian stories and
filmamkers
14. The Movie Brats (Late 1960s-
1980s)
 Consisted of generally younger filmmakers who
hadn’t come through the system of studios or via
theatre, novels or television
 Provided the most talented screenwriters,
editors, sound designers and composers
 What did it influence? A whole era of
blockbusters
15. L.A. Rebellion (1967-1991)
 Sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles School
of Black Filmmakers", or the UCLA Rebellion
 Refers to the new generation of
young African and African-American filmmakers
who studied at the UCLA Film School in the late-
1960s to the late-1980s
 Created a black cinema that provides an
alternative to classical Hollywood cinema
 Was used to broaden black America’s voices in
cinema
 What did it influence? US Indie cinema
16. New German Cinema (1968-1982)

A new generation of directors emerged working

with low budgets, and influenced by the French
New Wave
 Gainednotice by producing a number of "small"
motion pictures that caught the attention of art
house audiences
 What did it influence? Young American film lovers
17. Japanese New Wave (1975-1985)
 Nuberu Bagu, a fractured movement spurred on
by social turmoil, criminal antiheroes and all
manner of subversion to the big screen
 Presented country’s closeness with US
 Rejected the old ways of formal framing,
historical tales and traditional characters
replacing them with bold cinematic visions
 Beganto break in the early '70s as the studio
system deteriorated and funding became scarce
 Whatdid it influence? Inspired a whole
generation of directors within Japan
18. Australian New Wave (1975-1985)
 No trademark style
 Alsoknown as the Australian Film
Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New
Australian Cinema
 Considered as an era of revival in worldwide
popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in
the United States
 What did it influence? Emergence
of Ozploitation, a film genre characterised by the
exploitation of informal Australian culture
19. Cinéma du look (1980-1991)
 Directors were said to favor style over substance,
spectacle over narrative.
 referred to films that had a slick and gorgeous visual style
 Focussed on presenting young, alienated characters who
were said to represent the marginalized youth of France
 Themes included doomed love affairs, young people more
affiliated to peer groups than families, a cynical view of
the police, and an alternative, underground society
 Included a mixture of 'high' culture and pop culture
 What did it influence? Pop indie filmmakers
21. Dogme95 (1995-2005)

 Started in Denmark
 Idea was to distance its filmmakers from the Hollywood
style with their special effects and their bombastic scores
 Included features like filming on location, no use of props
and sets, used of music unless it occurs within the scene
being filmed, hand-held camera, no black and white, no
special lighting, no superficial action, no murders,
weapons, etc., no specified genre, use of 4:3 aspect ratio
instead of widescreen and unidentified director
 What did it influence? Reduced or cut down style
22. Mumblecore (2002-till date)

 Subgenre of independent film

 Characterized by naturalistic acting and dialogue
(sometimes improvised), low-budget film production,
an emphasis on dialogue over plot, and a focus on the
personal relationships of young adults.
 Small budgeted
 What did it influence? Horror off-shoot known as
Mumblegore.