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THE CENTENARY OF CINEMA - WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING?

The Centenary of Cinema Committee in Victoria are arranging a calendar of events which are being organised
by various groups commencing in 1995. CATHS-V Inc., in conjunction with the National Trust Heritage Festi-
val, will be setting up an exhibition of cinematic artefacts. Other groups will run activities at various times until
November 1996.

Internationally, celebrations have recognised the development of 35mm perforated film for the Kinetoscope in
1892; this year (1994) recognises the commercial debut of the production of filmed movies for the same
machine and their introduction as a public entertainment in New York on 14 April, 1894 and Australia in
November 1894.

An important conference to mark the centenary of the above was the Domitor Conference which was held in
New York in June this year. However, the event that is grabbing the limelight both here and overseas is the first
commercial demonstration of projected moving pictures in Paris on 28 December, 1895.

Recalling that we are celebrating the centenary of CINEMA what of the above is really cinema? It all depends
on how you look at it.

Many would say everything
mentioned above is cinema in
one way or another.

If we refer to dictionaries we find the modern emphasis in the definition of cinema is to the building where films
are projected, viz:

cinema. sin'rm~. -ma, n. a cinematograph: a
building in which motion pictures are shown:
cinematograph, sin-~·mat' ~-griif. n. apparatus for {with the) motion pictures collectively, or as
projecting a series of instantaneous photo- an art: material or method judged by its suit-
graphs so as to give a moving representation of a ability for the cinema.-Also kin'ema.-n.
scene. with or without reproduction of sound : cin'ematheque, -theque, a small, intimate
an exhibition of such photographs.-Aiso kine- cinema.-adj . cinemat'ic, pertaining to, suitable
mat'ograph.-n. cinematog'rapher.-adjs. cine- for, or savouring of, the cinema.-<:in'ema-
matograph'ic, cinematograph'ical.-ns. cine· or'g~ an organ with showier effects than a
matog'raphist; ciocmatog'rapby, the art of church organ; Cin'emaScope, proprietary name
making motion pictures. (Fr. cinb natograplte- of one of the methods of film projection on a
Gr. kinima, -atos, motion, graphein, . to write, wide curved screen to give a three-dimensional
represent.) effect; the picture is photographed with a
special type of lens; cinema verite, realism in
films sought by photographing scenes of real life.
(Chambers Twentyth Century Dictionary)
[cinematograph.)

cin'ema n. (Abbrev., now more
common, for cinematograph) Mov-
cinemat'ograph (-ahf) n. & adj. ing photographic pictures, fitms;
(Of the) cinema . ......., v.t. Photograph the making of these for entertain-
(scenes) for t he cinema. cinemato- ment or record; theatre where they
~raph ic adj. cinematograph'i- are exhibited. H ence ,_ adj.: .-
cally adv. cinematog'raphy n. camera (also cin'e-camera), appara-
Process, art, of producing moving tus for recording on a long strip of
pictures. [Gk kinema movement, film, in rapid succession, a series
grapho write, recordl
of photographs of moving obje(:ts ;
.... projector, apparatus for projec-
ting such photographs successively
(Readers Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary)
on a screen, so rapidly as to give
the effect of motion.