Uplifting the Empire: Colonial Cinema and the Educational Film-Movement, 1913–1940

Abstract

By 1930 commercial movies were spreading from town to village throughout much of Asia, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa. They were seen in a variety of venues, from art deco picture palaces to makeshift tents run by traveling entrepreneurs. During the 1920s colonial peoples began to get moving pictures from a new source — directly from their government, and from its allied institutions, such as missionary societies and commercial growing associations. These were educational films produced specifically for rural peoples, and were often distributed on vehicles rigged with projection equipment. These traveling screenings differed significantly from the cinema exhibitions of the growing urban centers. Unlike audiences in the city, rural people often had little or no experience with modern media when they first encountered these cinema demonstrations. For many people the mobile cinema presented them with their first exposure to internal combustion engines, or electric lights. The fact that these films arrived on government trucks and were screened by government agents further established a close connection between the state and the new medium. Through these shows the colonial state played a key role in spreading cinema technology in the inter-war era.

‘The caravan has arrived!’ With the speed of a Llalang blaze the glad news travels through the ‘Mukim’. Malay villagers, Indian trappers, and a few Chinese squatters hurry to the village Centre. There stands the Caravan. The Penghulu, a dignified figure in ceremonial dress, signals for silence. The Caravan show begins. But instead of the dark-eyed gypsy girl there emerges from its wide awning a khaki-clad figure, and under his practiced fingers a cinematograph machine throws a shimmering beam of light. Open mouthed with fascination, the dark brown peasant faces behold the shadowy pictures dancing on the screen — it shows them growing rubber trees, luscious padi fields, exemplary veg-etable plots, buffalo herds, and poultry yards.¹

The Straits Times, Singapore, 1936