Editing Cinema of Germany (section)

===1895–1918 German Empire===

<!-- NOTE: "Cinema of the German Empire" redirects to this section heading. Please update the redirect if you make a change to the heading. -->
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-035-15, Berlin, Wintergarten.jpg|thumb|The [[Berlin Wintergarten theatre]], here in 1940, was the site of the first cinema screening ever, with 8 short films presented by the [[Max Skladanowsky|Skladanowsky brothers]] on 1 November 1895.]]
The history of cinema in Germany can be traced back to the years of the medium's birth. [[Ottomar Anschütz]] held the first showing of life sized pictures in motion on 25 November 1894 at the [[Postfuhramt]] in Berlin.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ottomar-anschuetz.de/kino_1__vorfuehrung.htm | title=Ottomar Anschütz, Kinogeschichte, lebender Bilder, Kino, erste-Kinovorführung, Kinovorführung, Projektion, Kinoe, Bewegungsbilder }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EArkp5YYTLA | title=1886 Ottomar Anschütz - "Elektrischer Schnellseher" | website=[[YouTube]] | date=22 October 2011 }}</ref> On 1 November 1895, [[Max Skladanowsky]] and his brother Emil demonstrated their self-invented [[movie projector|film projector]], the [[Bioscop]], at the [[Berlin Wintergarten theatre|Wintergarten]] [[music hall]] in Berlin. A 15-minute series of eight short films were shown – the first screening of films to a paying audience.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brockmann|first=Stephen|title=A Critical History of German Film|year=2010|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-468-4|page=13}}</ref> This performance pre-dated the first paying public display of the [[Lumière brothers]]' [[Cinematographe]] in Paris on 28 December of the same year, a performance that Max Skladanowsky attended and at which he was able to ascertain that the Cinematographe was technically superior to his Bioscop. Other German film pioneers included the Berliners [[Oskar Messter]] and Max Gliewe, two of several individuals who independently in 1896 first used a [[Geneva drive]] (which allows the film to be advanced intermittently one frame at a time) in a projector, and the [[cinematographer]] [[Guido Seeber]].

In its earliest days, the cinematograph was perceived as an attraction for upper class audiences, but the novelty of moving pictures did not last long. Soon, trivial short films were being shown as fairground attractions aimed at the working class and lower-middle class. The booths in which these films were shown were known in Germany somewhat disparagingly as ''Kintopps''. Film-makers with an artistic bent attempted to counter this view of cinema with longer films based on literary models, and the first German "artistic" films began to be produced from around 1910, an example being the [[Edgar Allan Poe]] [[Film adaptation|adaptation]] [[The Student of Prague (1913 film)|''The Student of Prague'']] (1913) which was co-directed by [[Paul Wegener]] and [[Stellan Rye]], photographed by Guido Seeber and starring actors from [[Max Reinhardt]]'s company.

[[File:Filmstudio Babelsberg Eingang.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Babelsberg Studio]] near [[Berlin]] was the first large-scale film studio in the world (founded 1912) and the forerunner to [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. It still produces global blockbusters every year.]]

Early film theorists in Germany began to write about the significance of ''Schaulust'', or "visual pleasure", for the audience, including the [[Dada]] movement writer [[Walter Serner]]: "If one looks to where cinema receives its ultimate power, into these strangely flickering eyes that point far back into human history, suddenly it stands there in all its massiveness: visual pleasure."<ref>{{cite book|last=Brockmann|first=Stephen|title=A Critical History of German Film|year=2010|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-468-4|page=16}}</ref> Visually striking sets and makeup were key to the style of the [[German expressionist cinema|expressionist]] films that were produced shortly after the First World War.

Cinemas themselves began to be established landmarks in the years immediately before World War I. Before this, German filmmakers would tour with their works, travelling from fairground to fairground. The earliest ongoing cinemas were set up in cafes and pubs by owners who saw a way of attracting more customers. The storefront cinema was called a ''Kientopp'', and this is where films were viewed for the most part before the First World War broke out.<ref name="Brockmann 2010 18">{{cite book|last=Brockmann|first=Stephen|title=A Critical History of German Film|year=2010|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-468-4|page=18}}</ref> The first standalone, dedicated cinema in Germany was opened in [[Mannheim]] in 1906, and by 1910, there were over 1000 cinemas operating in Germany.<ref name="Brockmann 2010 18"/> [[Henny Porten]] and [[Asta Nielsen]] (the latter originally from Denmark) were the first major film stars in Germany.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brockmann|first=Stephen|title=A Critical History of German Film|year=2010|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-468-4|page=19}}</ref>

Prior to 1914, however, many foreign films were imported. In the era of the [[silent film]] there were no language boundaries and [[Cinema of Denmark|Danish]] and [[Cinema of Italy|Italian films]] were particularly popular in Germany. The public's desire to see more films with particular actors led to the development in Germany, as elsewhere, of the phenomenon of the film star; the actress [[Henny Porten]] was one of the earliest German stars. Public desire to see popular film stories being continued encouraged the production of [[film serial]]s, especially in the genre of [[mystery film]]s, which is where the director [[Fritz Lang]] began his illustrious career.

The outbreak of [[World War I]] and the subsequent boycott of, for example, [[Cinema of France|French films]] left a noticeable gap in the market. By 1916, there already existed some 2000 fixed venues for movie performances and initially film screenings were supplemented or even replaced by variety turns. In 1917 a process of concentration and partial nationalisation of the German film industry began with the founding of [[Universum Film AG]] (UFA), which was partly a reaction to the very effective use that the Allied Powers had found for the new medium for the purpose of propaganda. Under the aegis of the military, so-called ''Vaterland'' films were produced, which equalled the Allies' films in the matter of propaganda and disparagement of the enemy. Audiences however did not care to swallow the patriotic medicine without the accompanying sugar of the light-entertainment films which, consequently, Ufa also promoted. The German film industry soon became the largest in Europe.

{{See also|List of German films of 1895–1918}}