List of years in film

This list of years in film indexes the individual year in film pages. Each year is annotated with the significant events as a reference point.

• 19th century in film
• 20th century in film:
  • 1900s – 1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s
• 21st century in film:
  • 2000s – 2010s

19th century in film

• 1886 – Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince is granted an American dual-patent on a 16-lens device that combined a motion picture camera with a projector.
• 1888 – The Roundhay Garden Scene, shot in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Le Prince, is credited as the first film. It is recorded at a groundbreaking 20 frames per second and is the earliest surviving film. Thomas Edison describes the concept of the Kinetoscope, an early motion picture exhibition device.
• 1889 – Eastman Kodak is the first company to begin commercial production of film on a flexible transparent base, celluloid. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film are made in Hyde Park, London by William Friese Greene.
• 1890 – William Dickson completes his work for Thomas Edison on the Kinetograph cylinder either in this year or 1889. Monkeyshines No. 1 becomes the first film shot on the system.
• 1891 – Thomas Edison files for a patent of the motion picture camera. Thomas Edison holds the first public presentation of his Kinetoscope for the National Federation of Women's Clubs.
• 1892 – The Kinetoscope is completed by W.K. Dickson, at the employ of Thomas Edison. In France, Charles-Émile Reynaud begins to have public screenings in Paris at the Théâtre Optique, with hundreds of drawings on a reel that he wound through his Projecting Praxinoscope, similar to the Zoetrope, to construct moving images that continued for 15 minutes. The Eastman Company becomes the Eastman Kodak Company. Max Skladanowsky develops a camera and shoots his first footage this year, but its unusual interleaved image format leaves him ultimately unable to exhibit it until work is completed on the Bioskop projector in late 1895.
• 1893 – Thomas Edison is granted Patent #493,426 for "An Apparatus for Exhibiting Photographs of Moving Objects" (The Kinetoscope). Edison builds "America's First Movie Studio", the Black Maria, in West Orange, New Jersey. The premiere of the completed Kinetoscope is held on May 9 at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences: The first film publicly shown on the system was Blacksmith Scene (aka Blacksmiths).
• 1894 – W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film. Thomas Edison records Fred Ott's sneeze. Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the Cinématographe, a combination movie camera and projector.
• 1895 – The cinématographe is patented. First footage ever to be shot using it is recorded on March 19. The Lumière brothers hold their first private screening of projected motion pictures on March 22. The Lumières give the first public screening at L'Eden, the world's first and oldest cinéma (theater), located in La Ciotat, France, on September 28. Gaumont Pictures is founded by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont. In the US, the Dickson Experimental Sound Film presents two men dancing to the sound of a violin player, in what the documentary film The Celluloid Closet calls the first gay cinema reference. The first screening of movies at which admission was charged takes place on December 28, in Paris, at the Salon Indien du Grand Café. This historical screening is based on ten short films, in the following order (and respective length): Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory), 46 seconds; La Voltige ("Horse Trick Riders"), 46 seconds: La Pêche aux Poissons Rouges ("Fishing for Goldfish"), 42 seconds; Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon ("The Disembarkment of the Congress of Photographers in Lyon"), 48 seconds; Les Forgerons ("Blacksmiths"), 49 seconds; Le Jardinier (l'Arroseur Arrosé) ("The Gardener, [The Sprinkler Sprinkled]"), 49 seconds; Le Repas (de Bébé) ("Baby's Meal"), 41 seconds; Le Saut à la Couverture ("Jumping Onto the Blanket"), 41 seconds; La Place des Cordeliers à Lyon ("Cordeliers Square in Lyon – a Street Scene"), 44 seconds; La Mer (Baignade en Mer) ("The Sea [Bathing in the Sea]"), 38 seconds. In Germany, Emil and Max Skladanowsky develop their own film projector – they project from November 1 in Berlin. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company motion pictures was founded in New Jersey by the KMCD Syndicate of William Kennedy Dickson, Henry Marvin, Herman Casler and Elias Koopman. Woodville Latham and his sons develop the Latham Loop – the concept of loose loops of film on either side of the intermittent movement to prevent stress from the jerky movement. This is debuted in the Eidoloscope, which is also the first widescreen format (1.85:1). Herman Casler of American Mutoscope Company, aka American Mutoscope and Biograph Company manufactures the Biograph 68 mm camera, which will become the first successful large format 68 mm (70 mm) film.
• 1896 – Pathé Frères is founded. In Britain, Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul developed their own film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph). Georges Méliès buys an English projector from Robert William Paul and shoots his first films. A projector called the Vitascope is designed by Charles Francis Jenkins. The first theater in the US dedicated exclusively to showing motion pictures is Vitascope Hall, established on Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. The first screen kiss takes place between May Irwin and John Rice in The Kiss. The first female film director, Alice Guy-Blaché, presents The Cabbage Fairy. Cinema reaches India by way of The Lumière brothers ' Cinematography, unveiling six silent short films at the Watson Hotel in Bombay, namely Entry of Cinematographe, La Mer (Baignade en mer), L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat, A Demolition, Ladies & Soldiers on Wheels and Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon. The tour of the Lumière brothers covers also London and New York.
• 1897 – Vitagraph is founded in New York. In England, the Prestwich Camera is patented. Harischandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar, alias Save Dada, imports a cine-camera from London at a price of 21 guineas and films the first Indian documentary film, a wrestling match in Hanging Gardens, Bombay. Daily screenings of films commence in Bombay by Clifton and Co.'s Meadows Street Photography Studio. 125 people die during a film screening at the Charity Bazaar in Paris after a curtain catches on fire from the ether used to fuel the projector lamp.
• 1898 – Méliès starts producing under the brand Star Film and directs brief commercials. Hiralal Sen starts filming scenes of theatre productions at the Classic Theatre in Calcutta.
• 1899 – The first long footage (over 100 meters), films with montage are made: The Dreyfus Affair and the first film version of Cinderella are both released by Méliès; the latter it is the first film to use a photographic dissolve (or fades). Georges Méliès also writes and directs Jeanne d'Arc, a film about Joan of Arc, which removes the viewer from spatial relations and institutionalized the use of the close-up.

1900s

• 1900 – Sherlock Holmes Baffled, The Enchanted Drawing
• 1901 – Star Theatre, Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost
• 1902 – A Trip to the Moon
• 1903 – The Great Train Robbery, Life of an American Fireman
• 1904 – The Impossible Voyage
• 1905 – Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom
• 1906 – The Story of the Kelly Gang, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
• 1907 – Ben Hur, L'Enfant prodigue
• 1908 – Fantasmagorie, The Taming of the Shrew, The Thieving Hand, The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, A Visit to the Seaside; first use of Kinemacolor; Pathé News invents the newsreel
• 1909 – The Country Doctor, A Corner in Wheat, Les Misérables, Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy; 35 mm film is accepted as international standard gauge

1910s

• 1910 – In Old California
• 1911 – L'Inferno, Defence of Sevastopol
• 1912 – Independenţa României, The Musketeers of Pig Alley
• 1913 – Fantômas, Raja Harishchandra
• 1914 – The Perils of Pauline, Judith of Bethulia, Tillie's Punctured Romance
• 1915 – Birth of a Nation, Les Vampires
• 1916 – Intolerance, The Queen of Spades, Gertie the Dinosaur, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, One A.M.; invention of Technicolor
• 1917 – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, A Man There Was, The Little Princess
• 1918 – Stella Maris, Mickey, Shifting Sands, A Dog's Life
• 1919 – Broken Blossoms, True Heart Susie, Male and Female, Dalagang Bukid, A Day's Pleasure

1920s

• 1920 – Way Down East, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, One Week
• 1921 – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Phantom Carriage, The Kid, Destiny, The Sheik
• 1922 – Nosferatu, Nanook of the North, Blood and Sand, Foolish Wives, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler
• 1923 – Our Hospitality, A Woman of Paris, The Covered Wagon; 16 mm film introduced
• 1924 – Greed, Sherlock Jr., The Sea Hawk, The Last Laugh
• 1925 – The Battleship Potemkin, The Big Parade, Strike, The Gold Rush, Seven Chances
• 1926 – The General, Faust, Aloma of the South Seas, For Heaven's Sake
• 1927 – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, Napoléon, The Jazz Singer, Metropolis, October: Ten Days That Shook the World, The Unknown
• 1928 – The Passion of Joan of Arc, Steamboat Willie, Lights of New York, The Viking, The Crowd
• 1929 – Man with a Movie Camera, Un Chien Andalou, Pandora's Box, The Broadway Melody; 1st Academy Awards

1930s

• 1930 – L'Age d'Or, Earth, The Blue Angel, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Blood of a Poet
• 1931 – City Lights, M, Frankenstein, Dracula, Tabu, Le Million
• 1932 – Trouble in Paradise, Shanghai Express, Vampyr, Love Me Tonight, Scarface; 8 mm film released
• 1933 – Duck Soup, King Kong, The Goddess, Zero for Conduct, 42nd Street, Outskirts; The Crooked Circle
• 1934 – L'Atalante, It Happened One Night, The Scarlet Empress, Man of Aran, It's a Gift
• 1935 – Bride of Frankenstein, A Night at the Opera, Top Hat, The 39 Steps, Triumph of the Will
• 1936 – Modern Times, Partie de campagne, The Crime of Monsieur Lange, Pépé le Moko, The Story of a Cheat
• 1937 – Grand Illusion, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Angel
• 1938 – Bringing Up Baby, Alexander Nevsky, The Lady Vanishes, Olympia, Boys Town
• 1939 – Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, The Rules of the Game

1940s

• 1940 – His Girl Friday, The Grapes of Wrath, The Philadelphia Story, The Great Dictator, Pinocchio, Fantasia
• 1941 – Citizen Kane, The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, The Maltese Falcon, How Green Was My Valley, Sergeant York, Dumbo
• 1942 – Casablanca, The Magnificent Ambersons, To Be or Not to Be, The Palm Beach Story, Cat People, Bambi
• 1943 – The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Day of Wrath, Meshes of the Afternoon, Shadow of a Doubt, I Walked with a Zombie
• 1944 – Double Indemnity, Ivan the Terrible, Part One, Meet Me in St. Louis, To Have And To Have Not, Laura, A Canterbury Tale
• 1945 – Mom and Dad, Children of Paradise, Rome, Open City, Brief Encounter, I Know Where I'm Going!, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
• 1946 – It's a Wonderful Life, Notorious, My Darling Clementine, Paisà, A Matter of Life and Death, The Best Years of Our Lives; First Cannes Film Festival
• 1947 – Miracle on 34th Street, Gentleman's Agreement, Out of the Past, Monsieur Verdoux, Germany, Year Zero
• 1948 – Bicycle Thieves, Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Red Shoes, Red River; 1st British Academy Film Awards
• 1949 – The Third Man, All the King's Men, A Letter to Three Wives, Late Spring, Kind Hearts and Coronets

1950s

• 1950 – Rashomon, Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, Los Olvidados, Annie Get Your Gun, In a Lonely Place, Harvey, Cinderella
• 1951 – A Streetcar Named Desire, Alice in Wonderland, The River, Miracle in Milan, Strangers on a Train, An American in Paris, Quo Vadis
• 1952 – Singin' in the Rain, The Greatest Show on Earth, High Noon, This Is Cinerama, Umberto D., The Quiet Man, The Wages of Fear
• 1953 – Peter Pan, From Here to Eternity, Tokyo Story, Ugetsu, The Earrings of Madame de..., Voyage in Italy, The Band Wagon; first use of CinemaScope
• 1954 – The Seven Samurai, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, La Strada, White Christmas, Sansho the Bailiff, On the Waterfront
• 1955 – Rebel Without a Cause, To Catch a Thief, The Night of the Hunter, Ordet, Pather Panchali, Floating Clouds, Lady and the Tramp
• 1956 – The Ten Commandments, Carousel, The King and I, Giant, High Society, The Searchers, Written on the Wind, Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• 1957 – 12 Angry Men, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sweet Smell of Success, Paths of Glory, Throne of Blood
• 1958 – Vertigo, Gigi, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, South Pacific, Touch of Evil, Ashes and Diamonds, Jalsaghar, Mon Oncle
• 1959 – Some Like It Hot, Ben-Hur, The 400 Blows, North by Northwest, Anatomy of a Murder, Sleeping Beauty, Rio Bravo, Pickpocket

1960s

• 1960 – Psycho, Breathless, Exodus, Spartacus, The Apartment, The Alamo, La Dolce Vita, L'Avventura
• 1961 – West Side Story, Judgment at Nuremberg, Divorce, Italian Style, Yojimbo, Breakfast at Tiffany's, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Havoc in Heaven
• 1962 – Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Manchurian Candidate, Ivan's Childhood, Lolita
• 1963 – The Birds, Hud, Not on Your Life, The Haunting, The Great Escape, Lilies of the Field, 8½, Cleopatra
• 1964 – Woman in the Dunes, A Hard Day's Night, A Fistful of Dollars, My Fair Lady, Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins
• 1965 – The Sound of Music, Doctor Zhivago, For a Few Dollars More, Thunderball, The Great Race
• 1966 – Persona, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Sand Pebbles, A Man for All Seasons, The Battle of Algiers
• 1967 – Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke, In the Heat of the Night, Dont Look Back, The Jungle Book
• 1968 – 2001: A Space Odyssey, Once Upon a Time in the West, Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, Planet of the Apes
• 1969 – Midnight Cowboy, True Grit, Easy Rider, Z, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch

1970s

• 1970 – Performance, Love Story, The Aristocats, Five Easy Pieces, Patton, M*A*S*H, The Conformist; first IMAX films
• 1971 – The French Connection, A Clockwork Orange, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Dirty Harry, The Last Picture Show, Fiddler on the Roof
• 1972 – The Godfather, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Solaris, Cries and Whispers, Last Tango in Paris
• 1973 – The Exorcist, Don't Look Now, Badlands, Papillon, Amarcord, The Sting, Enter the Dragon, Mean Streets
• 1974 – A Woman Under the Influence, The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, The Conversation, Blazing Saddles, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• 1975 – Jaws, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville, The Rocky Horror Picture Show; videocassette recorders appear on mass market
• 1976 – Taxi Driver, Rocky, Network, Carrie, All the President's Men, In the Realm of the Senses, 1900, Logan's Run
• 1977 – Annie Hall, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, A Bridge Too Far, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever, Providence
• 1978 – Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Grease, Midnight Express, Days of Heaven, The Deer Hunter, Superman
• 1979 – Apocalypse Now, Mad Max, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Alien, Kramer vs. Kramer, Manhattan, Stalker, Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1980s

• 1980 – The Empire Strikes Back, Raging Bull, The Shining, Ordinary People, Kagemusha, Airplane, Caddyshack
• 1981 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, Chariots of Fire, Pennies from Heaven, Das Boot, Reds, Blow Out
• 1982 – Blade Runner, Sophie's Choice, Poltergeist, Fitzcarraldo, Fanny and Alexander, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Tootsie, Gandhi
• 1983 – Sans Soleil, L'Argent, Terms of Endearment, The King of Comedy, The Right Stuff, Risky Business, Nostalghia, Return of the Jedi
• 1984 – This is Spinal Tap, Amadeus, The Karate Kid, The Terminator, Once Upon a Time in America, Ghostbusters, Paris, Texas
• 1985 – Back to the Future, Come and See, Ran, Brazil, Shoah, Out of Africa, The Breakfast Club, The Color Purple
• 1986 – Blue Velvet, Aliens, The Sacrifice, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Stand by Me, Hannah and Her Sisters, Platoon, Top Gun
• 1987 – Fatal Attraction, Wings of Desire, The Dead, Dirty Dancing, The Princess Bride, Evil Dead II, Full Metal Jacket, The Last Emperor
• 1988 – Rain Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, My Neighbour Totoro, Midnight Run, Dead Ringers, Cinema Paradiso, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Die Hard
• 1989 – Do the Right Thing, Driving Miss Daisy, The Little Mermaid, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Abyss, Close-Up, Batman; first publication of Empire

1990s

• 1990 – Home Alone, Goodfellas, Ghost, An Angel at My Table, Edward Scissorhands, Miller's Crossing, Dances with Wolves, Total Recall
• 1991 – The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, A Brighter Summer Day, Thelma & Louise, Beauty and the Beast
• 1992 – Unforgiven, Aladdin, Reservoir Dogs, The Player, Basic Instinct, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Indochine
• 1993 – Schindler's List, The Piano, In the Name of the Father, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, Philadelphia, Three Colors: Blue
• 1994 – Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King, Legends of the Fall, Three Colors: Red, Clerks
• 1995 – Braveheart, Se7en, Toy Story, Heat, A Moment of Innocence, 12 Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, Apollo 13; first DVDs released
• 1996 – Fargo, Breaking the Waves, Trainspotting, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Independence Day, Jerry Maguire, The English Patient, Flirting with Disaster
• 1997 – Titanic, Boogie Nights, Taste of Cherry, Hana-bi, L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting, Life is Beautiful, Jackie Brown
• 1998 – Saving Private Ryan, American History X, The Thin Red Line, Shakespeare in Love, The Big Lebowski, Rush Hour, The Truman Show, Mulan
• 1999 – American Beauty, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Magnolia, The Blair Witch Project, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Eyes Wide Shut

2000s

• 2000 – In the Mood for Love, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Platform, Memento, Erin Brockovich, Cast Away, Gladiator; first digital cinema projection in Europe by Philippe Binant
• 2001 – Mulholland Drive, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, A Beautiful Mind, Spirited Away, Shrek, Donnie Darko, Harry Potter film series (2001–11) begins
• 2002 – City of God, Talk to Her, Minority Report, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Spider-Man, The Pianist, Chicago, Russian Ark
• 2003 – Oldboy, Kill Bill: Volume 1, Elephant, Monster, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Nemo
• 2004 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Passion of the Christ, Million Dollar Baby, The Incredibles, Sideways, Tropical Malady, Hotel Rwanda, Downfall
• 2005 – Caché, The New World, Brokeback Mountain, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, A History of Violence, Pride & Prejudice, Walk the Line, Batman Begins
• 2006 – Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, The Departed, Dreamgirls, The Lives of Others, The Prestige, The Queen, Casino Royale
• 2007 – 300, I Am Legend, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno
• 2008 – The Dark Knight, Iron Man, WALL-E, Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, Milk, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• 2009 – Inglourious Basterds, Up, The Secret in Their Eyes, Mary and Max, District 9, Avatar, The Princess and the Frog, Star Trek

2010s

• 2010 – Black Swan, Inception, The King's Speech, Tangled, The Social Network, Winter's Bone, How to Train Your Dragon, 127 Hours
• 2011 – The Artist, Drive, The Intouchables, Hugo, A Separation, The Tree of Life, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris
• 2012 – Prometheus, The Avengers, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Argo, Lincoln, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Les Misérables
• 2013 – The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Rush, Frozen, American Hustle
• 2014 – Interstellar, Boyhood, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Whiplash
• 2015 – Mad Max: Fury Road, Bridge of Spies, The Revenant, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out, Spotlight, The Martian, Ex Machina

• 2016 – Finding Dory, Deadpool, Zootopia, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, The Birth of a Nation
• 2017 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star Wars: Episode VIII, Fast and Furious 8

See also

• List of cinematic firsts

References

• The Silent Cinema Reader edited by Lee Grieveson and Peter Kramer
• Movies of the 30s, edited by Jürgen Müller, Taschen
• The Magic of Méliès, documentary by Jacques Mény, special collector's edition DVD, Spain