Introduction to French Cinema

The Beginning of French cinema

Thanks to the brothers Lumiere we know what film is. They had invented it just before the end of the 19th century. The first time people saw the medium of film they were rather shocked. This is due to the fact that the first footage displayed was of a train entering a station. The thing of it was that people thought that the train would go through the screen and would hit them. For this reason film was first mainly used as an entertainment enterprise. It did not take the creative minds to realise they could use if for the purpose of art. As you can derive from their names, the Lumiere Brothers were French. Because of them France can be called the birthplace of cinema. Since the lumiere brothers France has kept on being a huge player in world cinema.

Films are part of French culture. It is entirely integrated into French society. For instance, take the fact that Paris has the highest density of movie theaters in the whole world. Furthermore, From all kinds of countries in Europe, filmmakers came to France to launch their filmmaking careers. Some of them did this very succesfully. With their foreign influences they have made French films what they are today. Moreover, there were a lot of filmmakers from France that have crossed French borders to make a career in Hollywood. It is also paramount to realise that the French government has always done a lot to support French directors and actors. Thanks to the French government, France has remained an important figure in world cinema. Also with prestigious film festivals like the Cannes film festival, France has remained very respectable.

French movies of the last 10 years

In the last ten years French films have again proven that they are something special. Especially, the movie 'Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain' (2001) was very well received throughout the world. It received 5 Oscar nominations. The French movie Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis broke all the French Records. It was the most popular movie after Titanic. Moreover, pretty much every year France has received nominations for the best Foreign Language film Oscars. However, since 'Indochine' in 1992 it has not won any of them. Nonethelss, in The Artist' has won staggering four Oscars in 2012, and also the film 'Involuntary' did well, and is currently one of the most watched movies in Europe's cinema's.. French movie producers hold that France is back and they claim that this is only the beginning. And indeed, the year 2012 seems to have a lot of great French Movies in store for us. (Rust&Bone).