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The Film Portal

Man working with a movie projector in a movie theater, 1958

A film (British English) – also called a movie (American English), motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick – is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and the art form that is the result of it. (Full article...)

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Brighton Rock is a 2010 British crime film written and directed by Rowan Joffé and loosely based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Serkis, John Hurt, Sean Harris and Helen Mirren.

The novel had previously been made into a film under the same title by the Boulting brothers that premiered in 1948. Although the novel and original film are both set in the 1930s, the 21st century adaptation is set during the Mods and Rockers era of the 1960s. (Portal:Film/Featured content)

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The following are images from various film-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Nestor studio, 1911 (from Film industry)
Image 2Mona Zaki, Egyptian film star (from Film industry)
Image 3William Friese-Greene (from Film industry)
Image 4A scene from Raja Harishchandra (1913) – credited as the first full-length Indian motion picture. (from Film industry)
Image 5Cinématographe Lumière at the Institut Lumière, France (from History of film technology)
Image 6A shot from Raja Harishchandra (1913), the first film of Bollywood. (from Film industry)
Image 7Salah Zulfikar and Nadia Lutfi in Saladin the Victorious (1963) (from History of film)
Image 8Bahiga Hafez (1901–1983) Egyptian filmmaker and actress in 1920s and 1930s (from Film industry)
Image 9Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (from History of film)
Image 10Charlie Chaplin (from History of film)
Image 11Publicity still for the Egyptian film My Wife, the Director General (1966) (from Film industry)
Image 12Poster for a Biograph Studios release from 1913 (from Film industry)
Image 13Insert shot in Old Wives for New (Cecil B. DeMille, 1918) (from History of film)
Image 14The Cinématographe Lumière in projection mode (from History of film technology)
Image 15Old Chinese Cinema in Qufu, Shandong (from Film industry)
Image 16
An electrotachyscope
American Scientific, 16/11/1889, p. 303
(from History of film technology)
Image 17The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin was the first large-scale film studio in the world (founded 1912) and the forerunner to Hollywood. It still produces global blockbusters every year. (from History of film)
Image 18Georges Méliès (left) painting a backdrop in his studio (from History of film)
Image 19A still from The Story of the Kelly Gang (Australia, 1906; 80 min.) (from Film industry)
Image 20A production scene from the 1950 Hollywood film Julius Caesar starring Charlton Heston (from History of film)
Image 21Cinema admissions in 1995 (from History of film)
Image 22Louis Poyet [fr]'s engraving of the mechanism of the "fusil photographique" as published in La Nature (april 1882) (from History of film technology)
Image 23Discounted DVD home video film releases sold in the Netherlands (from Film industry)
Image 24GIF animation from retouched pictures of The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge (1879). (from History of film technology)
Image 25Poster for the 1956 Egyptian film Wakeful Eyes starring Salah Zulfikar and Shadia (from History of film)
Image 26Off Plus Camera Film Festival in Kraków, 2012, with Andrzej Seweryn, Daniel Olbrychski, and Wojciech Pszoniak on stage. (from Film industry)
Image 27Eadweard Muybridge's The Horse in Motion cabinet cards utilized the technique of chronophotography to study motion. (from History of film)
Image 28Max Skladanowsky (right) in 1934 with his brother Eugen and the Bioscop (from History of film technology)
Image 29
The Pathé Brothers, by Adrien Barrère.
(from Film industry)
Image 30London IMAX has the largest cinema screen in Britain with a total screen size of 520 m². (from Film industry)
Image 31Complex vignette shot in die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) (from History of film)
Image 32Flying pelican captured by Marey around 1882. He created a method of recording several phases of movement superimposed into one photograph (from History of film technology)
Image 33A frame from the Lumière brothers staged comedy film, L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895) (from History of film)
Image 34Animated GIF of Prof. Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheibe No. X (Trentsensky & Vieweg 1833) (from History of film technology)
Image 35Film still from Dickson Greeting (from History of film technology)
Image 36Edward Raymond Turner's three-color projector, 1902 (from History of film technology)
Image 37The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin was the first large-scale film studio in the world (founded 1912) and the forerunner to Hollywood. It still produces global blockbusters every year. (from Film industry)
Image 38The first two shots of As Seen Through a Telescope (1900), with the telescope POV simulated by the circular mask (from History of film)
Image 39Don Juan is the first feature-length film to use the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue. (from History of film)
Image 40The Wizard of Oz (from History of film)
Image 41Frame from a c.1912 Chronochrome film (from History of film technology)
Image 42The Hollywood Sign (from Film industry)
Image 43A.E. Smith filming The Bargain Fiend in the Vitagraph Studios in 1907. Arc floodlights hang overhead. (from History of film)
Image 44The Jazz Singer (1927), was the first full-length film with synchronized sound. (from History of film technology)
Image 45A surviving two-color-component image from the first Technicolor feature film, The Gulf Between (1917) (from History of film technology)
Image 46Publicity still for the Egyptian film Yahya el hub (1938) (from Film industry)
Image 47Italian neorealist movie Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, considered part of the canon of classic cinema (from History of film)
Image 48Czermak's 1855 Stereophoroskop (from History of film technology)

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Credit: Screenshot from public domain film, Nosferatu (1922)

The shadow of the vampire climbing stairs in a famous scene from the 1922 film Nosferatu by F. W. Murnau. The movie is an example of German Expressionism. Its original German title is Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens ("Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror"). The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was in essence an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.

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Did you know...

... that the actor who played Screech on Saved by the Bell portrayed Harvey Weinstein in a music video for the song "Kill All the Things"?
... that actress Mattie Edwards was made a US deputy marshal at the age of sixteen?
... that Belén Barenys and Berta Prieto's short film was picked up by Filmin after they suggested the idea on Instagram?
... that the documentary Railway with a Heart of Gold has actual footage of a derailment captured whilst the filmmaker was attached to the side of the train?
... that 1920s and 1930s radio show actress Artie Belle McGinty played the original radio advertisement voice for Aunt Jemima?

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Downey in 2014

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career has been characterized by some early success, a period of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge in popular and commercial success in the 2000s. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.

At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound in 1970. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin received a BAFTA Award. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal in 2000, and won a Golden Globe Award for the role. Downey was fired from the show in 2001 in the wake of additional drug charges. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003. (Full article...)

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Per a review process, Featured lists are considered to be the best list articles on English Wikipedia.

Image 1

Basshunter during the concert in Halmstad, 20 April 2008

Basshunter is a Swedish singer, record producer and DJ. He has released nineteen music videos, five lyric videos, two remix videos, one video megamix and five promotional video singles, and has made a guest appearance in one music video. Basshunter appeared in four short films, twelve television shows and one commercial.

From his second album LOL (2006), Basshunter released music videos for the singles "Boten Anna", "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA", "Vifta med händerna" and "Jingle Bells". Carl-Johan Westregård and Kim Parrot directed the music videos for "Boten Anna" and "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA". A second version of the music video for the former was made. In 2007, a music video for the reissue of "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA" titled "DotA" was released. (Full article...)
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Baxter as Eve Harrington in All About Eve (1950)

Anne Baxter (1923–1985) was an American actress who had an extensive career in film, television, and on stage. She made her acting debut at the age of 13 on stage in the Broadway play Seen, But Not Heard in 1936. Four years later, Baxter starred in her first feature film, the western 20 Mule Team (1940). She appeared in Orson Welles' period drama The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), with Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello, and followed this with a lead role in Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943). In 1946, she starred as a young woman suffering from alcoholism in the drama The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, Baxter appeared with Gregory Peck in the western Yellow Sky.

For her performance as Eve Harrington, an ambitious understudy, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950), she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Three years later, Baxter starred in Alfred Hitchcock's film noir I Confess (1953). In the same year, she also appeared in the Fritz Lang-directed film noir The Blue Gardenia. In 1956, Baxter appeared as Egyptian princess Nefretiri in the Cecil B. DeMille-directed biblical epic The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. Four years later, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Full article...)
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Chopra in 2012

Yash Chopra (1932–2012) was an Indian film director and producer known for his works in Bollywood. Acknowledged as one of the greatest filmmakers from the country, he was credited by the media for "changing the face of romance to become a brand" in the industry. He made his directorial debut with the family drama Dhool Ka Phool, which was produced by his elder brother Baldev Raj. The film, released in 1959, became a commercial success worldwide and gave him critical acclaim. Chopra's next film, Dharmputra (1961), failed to perform well at the box office but won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. In 1965, he directed the drama Waqt about a family who are separated due to a natural disaster. A commercial success, it was one of the earliest Indian films to star an ensemble cast and won a first Best Director trophy for him at the Filmfare Awards.

The 1980s was the most unsuccessful period of his career. Following the failure of his romantic drama Silsila (1981), which he co-wrote, directed and produced, Chopra's popularity began to wane. According to his biographer, the British academic Rachel Dwyer, this was because action and crime films were more popular at the time while most of his films were romances. Chopra experimented with making two action films, Mashaal (1984) and Vijay (1988), which underperformed financially but were well-received by critics. Chandni was his only box-office success of the decade. Starring Sridevi in the title role, the film tells the story of a young woman who is accused of being responsible for her lover's accident. Chopra's career began to revive since its premiere in 1989; the film was named the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the 37th National Film Awards and considered one of his best films. (Full article...)
Image 4
Velaiilla Pattadhari (transl. Unemployed graduate) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written and filmed by Velraj while also making his directorial debut. The film featured Dhanush, who produced the film under his production company Wunderbar Films, and Amala Paul in the lead roles. Saranya Ponvannan, Samuthirakani, Vivek, Surbhi and Amitash Pradhan played supporting roles. The film's story focuses on Raghuvaran (Dhanush), a civil engineering graduate who is unemployed for four years, and his search for a job. As soon as he finds employment, he faces competition from Arun Subramaniam (Amitash), the head of a rival engineering company, for a government project contract. The rest of the film shows how Raghuvaran overcomes the obstacles set by Arun. The soundtrack and score were composed by Anirudh Ravichander while the editing was handled by M. V. Rajesh Kumar.

Produced on a budget of ₹80 million, Velaiilla Pattadhari was released on 18 July 2014 and received positive reviews. It was commercially successful, grossing ₹530 million worldwide. The film won 19 awards from 31 nominations; its direction, performances of the cast members and music have received the most attention from award groups. (Full article...)
Image 5
Jacques Grétillat, J. Gordon Edwards, and Paulette Duval during the production of Nero (1922)

J. Gordon Edwards (1867–1925) was a Canadian American film director, screenwriter, and producer of the silent era. His oeuvre consists of over fifty feature films made between 1914 and 1924. He is perhaps best known for directing twenty-four films starring vamp actress Theda Bara—including Cleopatra, her most famous role— and also the 1921 epic The Queen of Sheba. Edwards was born in Montreal and educated at a military academy with the expectation that he would pursue a career as a British Army officer. He decided against a life in the military in favor of a future in theater. At the time, the Canadian theater and film industry was limited primarily to repertory theatre, so Edwards became one of many to emigrate to the United States to work in the field. He had a short career as an actor before becoming a stage director. By 1910, he was working for American motion picture producer William Fox, who sent him to Europe to study film production.

In 1914, the Balboa Amusement Producing Company produced the drama St. Elmo. Balboa was not a film distributor, and had a standing agreement to sell its films to Fox's Box Office Attractions Company for distribution. Some modern writers credit this film as Edwards's directorial debut. However, contemporary sources named Bertram Bracken in that role, as does the American Film Institute. Aubrey Solomon's history of the Fox Film Corporation states Bracken "reportedly" directed. Regardless of Edwards's role in St. Elmo, he was chosen to direct Life's Shop Window (1914), Box Office Attractions' first film as a production company rather than merely a distributor. (Full article...)
Image 6
Khurrana in 2012

Ayushmann Khurrana is an Indian actor, singer, lyricist, music director and television host who works in Hindi films. Khurrana first appeared in 2004 teen drama reality show MTV Roadies, winning the second season of the show. He went to star in many other MTV shows, including MTV Fully Faltoo Movies, Cheque De India and Jaadoo Ek Baar, and hosted multiple television shows, including India's Got Talent and Music Ka Maha Muqqabla. In 2012, he made his feature film debut with the romantic comedy Vicky Donor, about sperm donation, which received critical acclaim and performed strongly at the box office. Khurrana's performance won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer (for the song "Pani Da Rang"), Screen Award for Best Male Debut, Producers Guild Film Award for Best Male Debut, and Producers Guild Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He then starred in a series of commercially unsuccessful films, including the comedy-drama Nautanki Saala (2013), romantic comedy Bewakoofiyaan (2014), and drama Hawaizaada (2015).

In 2015, Khurrana starred in the Sharat Katariya-directed romantic drama Dum Laga Ke Haisha opposite Bhumi Pednekar. His performance was praised, and the film emerged as a commercial success. He then starred in Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017). The latter two were commercially successful. In 2018, he starred in the black comedy Andhadhun and the comedy-drama Badhaai Ho. The former grossed ₹4.56 billion (US$64 million) worldwide, and became one of Indian cinema's biggest grossers; for his performance he won the National Film Award for Best Actor (shared with Vicky Kaushal for Uri: The Surgical Strike) and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. Badhaai Ho became a sleeper hit, earning over ₹2.21 billion (US$31 million) worldwide. This success continued with Khurrana's 2019 releases, Article 15, Dream Girl, and Bala. For the first of these, he won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor, and Screen Award for Best Actor (Critics). In the comedy Bala, he played a man plagued with premature balding. (Full article...)
Image 7
Vijay in 2014

Vijay is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He made his cinematic debut in 1984 with Vetri, directed by his father, Chandrasekhar. After appearing in Chandrasekhar's films as a child artist, Vijay made his debut as a lead actor with Naalaiya Theerpu (1992) at the age of 18. He followed it with a role opposite Vijayakanth in Senthoorapandi (1993). Vijay went on to play lead roles in his father's directorial ventures such as Rasigan (1994) and Deva (1995). Most of those films were successful commercially.

Vijay's first breakthrough was in 1996 with romance film, Poove Unakkaga. His subsequent films, Love Today (1997) and Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), were critically and commercially successful. His performance in the latter won him the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. Thulladha Manamum Thullum (1999), where he played a passionate singer gained him the reputation of a romantic hero. (Full article...)
Image 8
The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2022. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, with Weiss also serving as director. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show for the third time, following the 89th ceremony in 2017 and the 90th ceremony in 2018.

In related events, the Academy held its 13th annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California, on November 19, 2022. The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards were presented by host Simu Liu on February 24, 2023, in a ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Full article...)
Image 9
The 71st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best of 1998 in film and took place on March 21, 1999, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actress Whoopi Goldberg hosted the show for the third time. She first hosted the 66th ceremony held in 1994 and had last hosted the 68th ceremony in 1996. Nearly a month earlier in a ceremony held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 27, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Anne Heche.

Shakespeare in Love won 7 awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included Saving Private Ryan with 5 awards, Life Is Beautiful with 3, and Affliction, Bunny, Election Night, Elizabeth, Gods and Monsters, The Last Days, The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years, The Prince of Egypt, and What Dreams May Come with 1. The telecast garnered nearly 46 million viewers in the United States. (Full article...)
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Kapoor Khan at an event for Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 2015

Kareena Kapoor Khan is an Indian actress who has appeared in more than 60 Hindi films. She made her acting debut opposite Abhishek Bachchan in the 2000 drama Refugee, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. The following year, she appeared in five films, including the romance Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, the thriller Ajnabee, and the ensemble melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.... The latter emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film in overseas to that point, and the success of these films established her in Bollywood. This success was followed by repetitive roles in a series of commercial failures.

In 2004, Kapoor portrayed a prostitute in the drama Chameli, which proved to be a turning point in her career, earning her a Filmfare Special Award. That same year, she played a Muslim woman affected by the 2002 Gujarat riots in Govind Nihalani's political drama Dev, and two years later, she played the Desdemona character in Omkara (2006), an adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello from director Vishal Bhardwaj. She won two Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for these films. In 2007, Kapoor played a loquacious Sikh girl in Jab We Met, a commercially successful romantic comedy co-starring Shahid Kapoor, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. (Full article...)

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We in Hollywood say that the script is a blueprint. I think a script is more. I think the director, the actor, the cameraman, have to be servants on the script. I hate to change anything in the script on the stage. I prepare my directions on the desk. Sometimes naturally to change something in the studio, but generally I'm not changing anything.

— Fritz Lang

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Terms - Animation • Beta movement • Camera • Cult film • Digital cinema • Documentary film • Dubbing • Experimental film • Fan film • Film crew • Film criticism • Film festival • Film frame • Film genre • Film journals and magazines • Film industry • Film manifesto • Film stock • Film theory • Filmmaking • History of film • Independent film • Lost film • Movie star • Narrative film • Open content film • Persistence of vision • Photographic film • Propaganda • Recording medium • Special effect • Subtitles • Sound stage • Web film • World cinema

Lists - List of basic film topics • List of film topics • List of films • List of film festivals • List of film formats • List of film series • List of film techniques • List of highest-grossing films • List of longest films by running time • List of songs based on a film or book • Lists of film source material • List of open content films

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1961-04-13 Tale Of Century - Eichmann Tried For War Crimes
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
A Trip Down Market Street (High Res)
A Visit to the Seaside (1908)
Animated phenakistiscope disc - Running rats Fantascope by Thomas Mann Baynes 1833
Annie Oakley shooting glass balls, 1894
Chicago Theatre blend
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
De Orient Magazine advertisement for Panggilan Darah (1941)
Edison's Greatest Marvel-The Vitascope - Restoration
Geneva mechanism 6spoke animation
Jane Russell in The Outlaw
Lagu Kenangan (1953; obverse)
Le Voyage dans la lune (black and white, 1902)
Loie Fuller (1901)
Lonesome (1928)
MultiplaneDemo
Muybridge race horse animated
Nanook of the North
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Poesaka Terpendam ad, Poestaka Timoer 66 (15 Oct 1941), p3
Poster - Island of Lost Men 01
Poster for Quo Vadis (1913 silent film) - Lygia Bound to the Wild Bull
Poster for Quo Vadis (1913 silent film)
Ratna Moetoe Manikam ad, Poestaka Timoer 66 (15 Oct 1941), p6
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Rory Kennedy 2011
Roundhay Garden Scene
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Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
Stunt Pyrotechnics Luc Viatour
Supir Istimewa (1954; obverse)
The Dover Boys at Pimento University 1080p
The Freshman
The General (1926)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Mummy 1932 film poster
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
Wings (1927)
Winsor McCay (1912) How a Mosquito Operates