Portal:Film

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The Film Portal

Man working with a movie projector in a movie theater, 1958

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A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since the 1930s, synchronized with sound and (less commonly) other sensory stimulations. (Full article...)

Featured articles -

  Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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One Chance is a 2013 British biographical film about opera singer and Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts, directed by David Frankel and written by Justin Zackham. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. (Portal:Film/Featured content)

General images -

The following are images from various film-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Cinématographe Lumière at the Institut Lumière, France (from History of film technology)
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  Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (from History of film)
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  Maria Germanova in Anna Karenina (1914) (from Film industry)
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  Complex vignette shot in die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) (from History of film)
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  London IMAX has the largest cinema screen in Britain with a total screen size of 520 m². (from Film industry)
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  Czermak's 1855 Stereophoroskop (from History of film technology)
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  Old Chinese Cinema in Qufu, Shandong (from Film industry)
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  Charlie Chaplin (from History of film)
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  Frame from a c.1912 Chronochrome film (from History of film technology)
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  Don Juan is the first feature-length film to use the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue. (from History of film)
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  Poster for a Biograph Studios release from 1913 (from Film industry)
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  Italian neorealist movie Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, considered part of the canon of classic cinema (from History of film)
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  Insert shot in Old Wives for New (Cecil B. DeMille, 1918) (from History of film)
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  A scene from Raja Harishchandra (1913) – credited as the first full-length Indian motion picture. (from Film industry)
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  The Jazz Singer (1927), was the first full-length film with synchronized sound. (from History of film technology)
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  Discounted DVD home video film releases sold in the Netherlands (from Film industry)
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  Georges Méliès (left) painting a backdrop in his studio (from History of film)
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  Max Skladanowsky (right) in 1934 with his brother Eugen and the Bioscop (from History of film technology)
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  Publicity still for the Egyptian film My Wife, the Director General (1966) (from Film industry)
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  Nestor studio, 1911 (from Film industry)
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  The Pathé Brothers, by Adrien Barrère.

  (from Film industry)
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  Oskar Messter (from History of film)
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  Poster for the 1956 Egyptian film Wakeful Eyes starring Salah Zulfikar and Shadia (from History of film)
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  Louis Poyet's engraving of the mechanism of the "fusil photographique" as published in La Nature (april 1882) (from History of film technology)
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  Publicity still for the Egyptian film Yahya el hub (1938) (from Film industry)
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  The Hollywood Sign (from Film industry)
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  The first two shots of As Seen Through a Telescope (1900), with the telescope POV simulated by the circular mask (from History of film)
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  Flying pelican captured by Marey around 1882. He created a method of recording several phases of movement superimposed into one photograph (from History of film technology)
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  A shot from Raja Harishchandra (1913), the first film of Bollywood. (from Film industry)
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  The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin, the earliest large-scale film studio complex (founded 1912). Today its one of the major film studios worldwide. (from History of film)
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  GIF animation from retouched pictures of The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge (1879). (from History of film technology)
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  A still from The Story of the Kelly Gang (Australia, 1906; 80 min.) (from Film industry)
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  A frame from the Lumière brothers staged comedy film, L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895) (from History of film)
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  The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin was the first large-scale film studio in the world (founded 1912) and the forerunner to Hollywood. It still produces global blockbusters every year. (from Film industry)
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  A surviving two-color-component image from the first Technicolor feature film, The Gulf Between (1917) (from History of film technology)
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  A.E. Smith filming The Bargain Fiend in the Vitagraph Studios in 1907. Arc floodlights hang overhead. (from History of film)
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  The Wizard of Oz (from History of film)
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  The Cinématographe Lumière in projection mode (from History of film technology)
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  Off Plus Camera Film Festival in Kraków, 2012, with Andrzej Seweryn, Daniel Olbrychski, and Wojciech Pszoniak on stage. (from Film industry)
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  Original script from the 1989 film Batman (from History of film)
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  Animated GIF of Prof. Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheibe No. X (Trentsensky & Vieweg 1833) (from History of film technology)
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  Edward Raymond Turner's three-color projector, 1902 (from History of film technology)
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  Salah Zulfikar and Nadia Lutfi in Saladin the Victorious (1963) (from History of film)
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  Film still from Dickson Greeting (from History of film technology)
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  William Friese-Greene (from Film industry)
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  An electrotachyscope
  American Scientific, 16/11/1889, p. 303

  (from History of film technology)
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  A production scene from the 1950 Hollywood film Julius Caesar starring Charlton Heston (from History of film)
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  Cinema admissions in 1995 (from History of film)

Selected image

Phenakistoscope animation

The phenakistoscope (also spelled phenakistiscope) was an early animation device, the predecessor to the zoetrope. It was invented in 1831 simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer.

Did you know...

• ... that Ren Jinping fought the backlash against a crime film by calling it educational?
• ... that the first Russian feature film, Stenka Razin, depicts the historical Cossack leader throwing a princess into the Volga?
• ... that multiple scenes in Papa feature cotton-tree flowers, even though it was not scripted and the falling cotton simply kept drifting into the shot?
• ... that both the comedy film Starbuck, and the Holstein bull it was named after, had cloned remakes?
• ... that Joss Whedon was hired to "contribute creatively" to each film in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in addition to writing and directing Avengers: Age of Ultron?

Selected biography -

Freeman in 2023

Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008, an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2011, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2012, and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2018. In a 2022 readers' poll by Empire, he was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Freeman was raised in Mississippi, where he began acting in school plays. He studied theater arts in Los Angeles and appeared in stage productions in his early career. He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children's television series The Electric Company. Freeman then appeared in the Shakespearean plays Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, the former of which earned him an Obie Award. In 1978, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as Zeke in the Richard Wesley play The Mighty Gents. (Full article...)

Featured lists -

  Per a review process, Featured lists are considered to be the best list articles on English Wikipedia.

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  The 2025 recipient: Kieran Culkin

  
  The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actress winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years’ Best Supporting Actor winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.
  
  The Best Supporting Actor award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 80 actors. The first winner was Walter Brennan for his role in Come and Get It (1936). The most recent winner is Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain (2024). The record for most wins is three, held by Brennan–who won every other year within a succession of the first five years. Seven other actors have won twice. Brennan is also tied for receiving the most nominations in the category (with four altogether) along with Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo. For his performance in The Dark Knight (2008), Heath Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously in this category—and second overall. Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to receive a nomination in any category at age 88, for All the Money in the World (2017). (Full article...)
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  The J. C. Daniel Award is the highest award in Malayalam cinema, established by the Government of Kerala, India. It is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a non-profit institution operating under the Department of Cultural Affairs, Kerala. Instituted in 1992, the award recognizes individuals for their "outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema". Recipients are selected by a jury appointed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and the Department of Cultural Affairs. As of 2021, the honourees receive a statuette, a citation, and a cash prize of ₹500,000 (US$5,900). They are honoured at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony.
  
  The Government of Kerala created the award to commemorate the contribution of Indian filmmaker J. C. Daniel, who is often regarded as the "father of Malayalam cinema". The J. C. Daniel Award was managed by the Department of Cultural Affairs until 1997. In 1998, the Government of Kerala constituted the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, and since that year, the Academy has hosted the award. A cash prize of ₹50,000 (US$590) was granted with the award until 2002. In 2003, the prize money was doubled and, as part of a technical correction to update it, no award was presented that year. Actor Madhu was the first recipient of the award with the increased monetary prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,200) in 2004. Since 2016, the cash prize is ₹500,000 (US$5,900). (Full article...)
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  The 2022 recipient: Pavan Malhotra

  
  The National Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), an organisation set up by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A national panel appointed annually by the NFDC selects the actor who has given the best performance in a supporting role within Indian cinema. The award is presented by the President of India at a ceremony held in New Delhi. Since the 70th National Film Awards, the name was changed to "Best Actor in a Supporting Role".
  
  The winner is given a "Rajat Kamal" (Silver Lotus) certificate and a cash prize of ₹2 lakh (US$2,400). Including ties and repeat winners, the government of India has presented a total of 32 Best Supporting Actor awards to 29 different actors. Although Indian cinema produces films in more than 20 languages, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in one or more of seven major languages: Hindi (18 awards), Tamil (9 awards), Bengali (3 awards), Malayalam (4 awards), Marathi (3 awards), Telugu (1 award), Kannada (1 award). (Full article...)
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  Stone at the UK premiere of Maniac in 2018

  
  
  Emma Stone is an American actress who aspired to an acting career from an early age. She had her first role onstage at age 11, and followed with parts in sixteen plays in a regional theater in Arizona. Stone made her television debut in the unsold pilot for the reality show The New Partridge Family (2005). After brief television roles in Medium, Malcolm in the Middle, and Lucky Louie, she made her film debut in the comedy Superbad (2007).
  
  Stone appeared as a ghost in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), and found commercial success with the horror comedy Zombieland. Her breakthrough came with her first leading role as a high school student perceived to be sexually promiscuous in the comedy Easy A (2010). In 2011, she starred in the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love and in the period drama The Help, which were both commercial successes. Stone's success continued with her role as Gwen Stacy in the 2012 superhero film The Amazing Spider-Man that became her highest-grossing release, with a worldwide revenue of $757 million, and she later reprised the role in its 2014 sequel. Critical success followed with her performance as a recovering drug addict in Alejandro González Iñárritu's black comedy-drama Birdman (2014). It earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Later that year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of the musical Cabaret. (Full article...)
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  Kapoor in 2022

  
  Ranbir Kapoor is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He worked as an assistant director on the films Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) and Black (2005), before making his acting debut opposite Sonam Kapoor in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic drama Saawariya (2007). It earned Kapoor the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He established himself in 2009 with leading roles in three films—the coming-of-age drama Wake Up Sid, the comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and the drama Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his combined work in these three films. In 2010, Kapoor played a character based on Arjuna and Michael Corleone in the commercially successful political thriller Raajneeti.
  
  From 2011 to 2013, Kapoor's releases were among the highest-grossing Hindi films of their respective years. In Imtiaz Ali's musical Rockstar (2011), he played an aspiring singer, and in Anurag Basu's comedy-drama Barfi! (2012), he starred as a joyful deaf and mute man. His performance in both films was critically acclaimed and he earned two consecutive Best Actor awards at Filmfare and the former also earned him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. The romantic comedy Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) further established him as a star. (Full article...)
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  Lagaan (English: Taxation) is a 2001 Indian sports drama film, written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film stars Aamir Khan, who also produced the film, and Gracy Singh in the lead roles. Yashpal Sharma, Raghubir Yadav, Rachel Shelley, and Paul Blackthorne feature in supporting roles. The film was edited by Ballu Saluja, with music and cinematography provided by A. R. Rahman, and Anil Mehta respectively. Lagaan is set in India in 1893, during the British Raj. The film tells the story of a small village whose inhabitants are oppressed by high taxes. They are challenged to a cricket match by an arrogant officer as a wager to avoid the taxes.
  
  Lagaan was released on 15 June 2001. The film grossed over ₹1.3 billion (US$15 million) globally on a production budget of ₹250 million (US$3.0 million). It received nominations, and awards in several categories both in India and internationally, with particular praise for its direction, acting and landscapes. (Full article...)
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  Theron at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival

  
  Charlize Theron is a South African and American actress and producer who has received various awards and nominations, including one Academy Award and one Golden Globe Award. Additionally, she has been nominated for two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, and one Primetime Emmy Award. In 2005, Theron received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the motion picture industry.
  
  In 1999, Theron starred in Lasse Hallström's drama The Cider House Rules. For her performance, she won the Bambi Award for Shooting Star: Female, and was nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. Theron's breakthrough role in the critically acclaimed biographical crime drama Monster (2003) won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In 2005, Theron starred in Niki Caro's drama North Country as a single mother and iron worker experiencing sexual harassment. Her performance went on to win the Desert Palm Achievement Award, the Hollywood Actress Award, and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. (Full article...)
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  Leto at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

  
  Jared Leto is an American entertainer with an extensive career in film, music, and television. He made his debut with minor roles in the television shows Camp Wilder (1992) and Almost Home (1993). He achieved recognition in 1994 for his role as Jordan Catalano in the teen drama television series My So-Called Life. The show was praised for its portrayal of adolescence and gained a cult following, despite being canceled after only one season. The same year, he made his television film debut starring alongside Alicia Silverstone in Cool and the Crazy. Leto's first film role was in the 1995 drama How to Make an American Quilt. He later co-starred with Christina Ricci in The Last of the High Kings (1996) and received a supporting role in Switchback (1997). In 1997, Leto starred in the biopic Prefontaine, in which he played the role of Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine. His portrayal received positive reviews from critics and is often considered his breakthrough role. The following year, Leto starred together with Alicia Witt in the horror Urban Legend. He then acted alongside Sean Penn and Adrien Brody in the war film The Thin Red Line (1998). After supporting roles in Black and White and Girl, Interrupted, Leto portrayed Angel Face in Fight Club (1999), which has since become a cult film.
  
  In 2000, Leto played Paul Allen in the psychological thriller American Psycho. The same year, he starred as heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream, directed by Darren Aronofsky. His acting in the addiction drama received praise from film critics. During this period Leto focused increasingly on his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, returning to acting in 2002 in the David Fincher-directed thriller Panic Room, which was well-received both critically and commercially. Following the lead role in the independent film Highway (2002), he co-starred with Colin Farrell in the historical drama Alexander (2004) as Hephaestion. Leto then starred together with Nicolas Cage in the political crime thriller Lord of War (2005) and acted alongside Salma Hayek in the crime drama Lonely Hearts (2006) as Raymond Fernandez. He also began to direct music videos for Thirty Seconds to Mars, with the first being "The Kill" (2006). The following year, he portrayed Mark David Chapman in the biopic Chapter 27. Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole, Leto's performance was widely praised. (Full article...)
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  Moonlight is a 2016 American drama film directed by Barry Jenkins. It is an adaptation of Tarell Alvin McCraney's play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. Produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Adele Romanski, it focuses on the life of Chiron, an African-American homosexual man struggling with his sexuality and identity while growing up in Miami, Florida. Moonlight stars Trevante Rhodes as Adult Chiron and André Holland as Adult Kevin, Chiron's closest friend. Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, and Janelle Monáe feature in supporting roles as Paula (Chiron's mother who suffers with drug addiction), Juan (a drug dealer), and Teresa (Juan's girlfriend) respectively. Moonlight premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2016. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2016, and the New York Film Festival on October 2, 2016. The film is the first produced by A24, which provided an initial limited release on October 21 before expanding to a wide release on November 18 at more than 600 theaters. It grossed a worldwide total of over $65 million at the box office on a $1.5 million budget. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 392 reviews and judged 98% to be positive.
  
  Moonlight garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for its direction and the performances of Ali and Harris. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations including Best Picture, Best Director for Jenkins and Best Supporting Actress for Harris. It went on to win Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Ali, and Best Adapted Screenplay. At the ceremony, romantic musical La La Land was incorrectly announced as the winner of Best Picture after the presenters had been given the wrong envelope. Moonlight was both the first film with an all-Black cast and the first LGBT-themed film to win Best Picture and Ali's win was the first for a Muslim actor in Academy Awards history. The film garnered six nominations at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and won Best Motion Picture – Drama. At the 70th British Academy Film Awards, Moonlight earned four nominations including Best Film, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Ali, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Harris. (Full article...)
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  Dinklage attending the 69th Annual Golden Globes Awards in 2012

  
  
  Peter Dinklage is an American actor and producer. He studied acting at the Bennington College where he starred in a number of amateur stage productions. He made his film debut in the 1995 comedy-drama Living in Oblivion. After appearing in a series of supporting parts in much of the 1990s and early 2000s, he made his breakthrough by starring in the Tom McCarthy-directed comedy-drama The Station Agent (2003), which had him play a railroad-obsessed introvert who inherits an abandoned train depot. He was cast in the role by director Tom McCarthy who recalled fondly his appearance in McCarthy's play The Killing Act (1995). For his performance, he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actor and an Independent Spirit Awards nomination for Best Male Lead. In the same year, Dinklage played the title role in the play Richard III at The Public Theater. He also played a children's book author in the comedy Elf. In 2006, he appeared in the Sidney Lumet-directed crime film Find Me Guilty. He followed with roles in the films Underdog (2007), the British film Death at a Funeral (2007), with its American remake of the same name (2010) and Trumpkin in the high fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008).
  
  He gained international recognition in 2011 with the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister. As of 2019, Dinklage has received consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations from 2011 to 2019 including four wins for the role as well as one Golden Globe Award. In 2017, Dinklage became one of the highest paid actors on television and earned £2 million per episode of Game of Thrones. (Full article...)

News

Wikinews film category

• September 2: Tributes paid to recently deceased US actor Chadwick Boseman
• October 7: Mockumentary Mister America has world premiere
• May 16: Actor Doris Day dies at 97
• January 22: Former U.S. intelligence agent Tony Mendez, architect of 'Argo' rescue, dies at 78

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