Although French cinema may not be the most popular in the world, the French cinematic industry is still very present in France today and has its place in worldwide cinema. We can distinguish French films and TV shows that had an international success such as “Intouchables” or “Lupin” and other films that, although aren’t as important internationally, are still very present in French culture, such as “Astérix: mission Cléopatre” or “Les Bronzés.” France also made a name in kid’s cartoons with the worldwide known series “Miraculous Ladybug.”
But France is also known in the cinematic universe for being the country where cinema was invented. In 1895, the Lumiere brothers organized the first public film projection in the world. Since then, French cinema kept developing with the first science fiction film ever: “Le voyage dans la Lune” (The Trip to the Moon) created by Georges Méliès in 1905. This film was the longest film to ever exist at the time and lasted approximately fifteen minutes. It was one of the first films to be colorized. This movie was inspired by two of Jules Verne’s novels “De la Terre à la Lune” (From Earth to the Moon) and “Les premiers hommes dans la Lune” (The First Men on the Moon). The story is about astrophysicists that found a way to build a rocket and land on the moon. The most famous scene of this movie is one where we see a personification of the moon with the rocket in its eye.
As a conclusion, we can say that the French cinematic industry has made itself a name internationally. Cinema is a very important part of French people’s lives. This is maybe one of the reasons why one of the biggest filmmaking festivals in the world, the Cannes Festival, is hosted every year in Cannes, France.
- Ines Latrille - France (near Paris)