Cartoon Internationale

Abstract

Rather than ask at what point film became a global medium, it is perhaps more pertinent to ask: was there ever a point at which film was not a global medium? A quick survey of film history reveals that moving picture technologies were themselves internationally mobile from their inception. Supported by the vast networks of imperial trade established by the end of the nineteenth century, Edison’s Kinetoscope and the Lumière brothers’ cinématographe spread with a speed and scope that remain impressive today. Within two months of the first commercial cinématographe screening in Paris on December 28, 1895, the Lumières’ program was being shown in London. A few more months and it reached Central Europe and the United States (April 1896), Canada (June 1896), and Russia (July 1896). By 1897, the cinématographe had been demonstrated on every continent except Antarctica, with screenings in Alexandria, Bangkok, Bombay, Buenos Aires, Osaka, and Sydney.