1896 in film

The following is an overview of the events of 1896 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.

Years in film
19th century
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 …
v t e

• January – In the United States, the Vitascope film projector is designed by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. Armat begins working with Thomas Edison to manufacture it.
• January 14 – Birt Acres demonstrates his film projector, the Kineopticon, the first in Britain, to the Royal Photographic Society at the Queen's Hall in London. This is the first film show to an audience in the U.K.^[1]
• February 20 – In London:^[2]
  • Robert W. Paul demonstrates his film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph), at the Alhambra Theatre.
  • The Lumière Brothers first project their films in Britain, at the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square.
• April – Edison and Armat's Vitascope is used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City.
• May 14 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia is crowned in Moscow, the first coronation ever recorded in film.
• July 11 – First films screened in Venezuela by Luis Manuel Méndez and Manuel Trujillo Durán at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo.^[3]
• July 26 – "Vitascope Hall" opens on Canal Street, New Orleans, the first business devoted exclusively to showing motion pictures at a fixed location [1]
• September 28 – The Pathé Frères film company is founded.
• October 19 – "Edisonia Hall" in Buffalo, New York, the first building constructed specifically for showing motion pictures. [2]
• November 3 - Marius Sestier films the Melbourne Cup, a major sporting event in Australia.
• In France, magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès begins experimenting with the new motion picture technology, developing early special effect techniques, including stop motion. Films that year included The Devil's Castle, A Nightmare, A Terrible Night.^[4]
• William Selig founds the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago.
• Demeny-Gaumont work on a 60 mm format, first known as Biographe (unperforated), then Chronophotographe (perforated).
• Casimir Sivan and E. Dalphin create a 38 mm format.

• Lion, London Zoological Gardens
• Pelicans, London Zoological Gardens

• The Cabbage Fairy
• Le chapeau de Tabarin
• Le clubmen
• Les concierges
• Les démolisseurs
• Chez le barbier

• The Boxing Kangaroo
• Boxing Match; or, Glove Contest
• Dancing Girls
• Landing at Low Tide
• Rough Sea at Dover directed with Robert W. Paul
• Yarmouth Fishing Boats Leaving Harbour

• Carga de rurales, a Mexican short black-and-white silent documentary film.
• Un duelo a pistola en el bosque de Chapultepec (Duel au pistolet).

• Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station, currently presumed to be a lost film
• A Lightning Sketch, a series of four French short silent films (lost)
• A Nightmare, it was advertised as a scène fantastique.
• A Serpentine Dance, it was released by Méliès's company Star Film and is numbered 44 in its catalogues (lost)
• A Terrible Night, it is listed with the descriptive subtitle scène comique.
• Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds (lost)
• Conjuring, the film was rediscovered in 2014
• Miss de Vère (English Jig)
• The Haunted Castle (aka The House of the Devil, aka The Devil's Castle)^[5]
• The Rag-Picker
• The Rescue on the River
• The Vanishing Lady
• Playing Cards
• Post No Bills
• Watering the Flowers, most likely a lost film

• Arab Cortege, Geneva
• Arrival Of A Train At La Ciotat
• Bataille de boules de neige
• Carmaux, Drawing Out The Coke
• Childish Quarrel
• Children Digging For Clams
• Démolition d'un mur
• Dragoons Crossing The Saone
• Loading A Boiler
• New York: Broadway At Union Square
• New York: Brooklyn Bridge
• Poultry-Yard
• Pompiers a Lyon
• Promenade Of Ostriches, Paris Botanical Gardens
• Serpentine Dance

• Gestoorde hengelaar (lost)
• Spelende kinderen (lost)
• Zwemplaats voor Jongelingen te Amsterdam (lost)

• Barnet Horse Fair
• Blackfriars Bridge
• Comic Costume Race
• Rough Sea at Dover directed with Birt Acres
• The Twins' Tea Party
• Two A.M.; or, the Husband's Return produced by Robert W. Paul

• Feeding The Doves
• The Kiss, starring May Irwin and John Rice. First kiss on film. May be considered the first romantic film.

• Dancing Darkies, an American, short, black-and-white, silent documentary film.
• A watermelon feast, directed by William Kennedy Dickson.

• Le Coucher de la Mariée, a French erotic short film considered to be one of the first erotic films (or "stag party films") made. The film was produced by Eugène Pirou and directed by Albert Kirchner under the pseudonym "Léar".
• Macintyre's X-Ray Film, a documentary radiography film directed by Scottish medical doctor John Macintyre.
• McKinley at Home, Canton, Ohio, is a silent film reenactment of William McKinley receiving the Republican nomination for President of the United States in September 1896 produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.
• A Morning Alarm, produced by Edison Studios.
• A Sea Cave Near Lisbon, a British short silent actuality film, directed by Henry Short.
• Up the River, directed by Unknown.

• Alice Guy as a director in Les démolisseurs
• May Irwin as an actress in The Kiss (1 April)
• John C. Rice as an actor in The Kiss (1 April)
• Cissy Fitzgerald as an actress in 50 feet of actuality film of Fitzgerald by Edison; presumably elements from the 1894 play The Gaiety Girl
• Robert B. Mantell as an actor in Select Scenes from 'Monbars'

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1896 in film.

• 1896 in film playlist on YouTube
• List of 1896 films at IMDb
• List of 1896 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1896 births at IMDb