Portal:Film

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

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

Star Trek Into Darkness is a 2013 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. It is the 12th installment in the Star Trek franchise and the sequel to the 2009 film Star Trek, as the second in a rebooted film series. It features Chris Pine reprising his role as Captain James T. Kirk, with Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, and Leonard Nimoy reprising their roles from the previous film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, and Peter Weller are also in the film's principal cast. It was Nimoy's last film appearance before his death in 2015. Set in the 23rd century, the film follows Kirk and the crew of USS Enterprise as they are sent to the Klingon homeworld seeking the terrorist John Harrison.

After the release of Star Trek, Abrams, Burk, Lindelof, Kurtzman, and Orci agreed to produce its sequel. Filming began in January 2012. Into Darkness's visual effects were created by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic. The film was converted to 3D during its post-production stage. (Portal:Film/Featured content)

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

Image 1Insert shot in Old Wives for New (Cecil B. DeMille, 1918) (from History of film)
Image 2A frame from the Lumière brothers staged comedy film, L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895) (from History of film)
Image 3Publicity still for the Egyptian film My Wife, the Director General (1966) (from Film industry)
Image 4Complex vignette shot in die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) (from History of film)
Image 5The Jazz Singer (1927), was the first full-length film with synchronized sound. (from History of film technology)
Image 6Poster for the 1956 Egyptian film Wakeful Eyes starring Salah Zulfikar and Shadia (from History of film)
Image 7Cinématographe Lumière at the Institut Lumière, France (from History of film technology)
Image 8A.E. Smith filming The Bargain Fiend in the Vitagraph Studios in 1907. Arc floodlights hang overhead. (from History of film)
Image 9Original script from the 1989 film Batman (from History of film)
Image 10Louis Poyet's engraving of the mechanism of the "fusil photographique" as published in La Nature (April 1882) (from History of film technology)
Image 11Film still from Dickson Greeting (from History of film technology)
Image 12Italian neorealist movie Bicycle Thieves (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, considered part of the canon of classic cinema (from History of film)
Image 13
An electrotachyscope
American Scientific, 16/11/1889, p. 303
(from History of film technology)
Image 14A shot from Raja Harishchandra (1913), the first film of Bollywood. (from Film industry)
Image 15Discounted DVD home video film releases sold in the Netherlands (from Film industry)
Image 16Salah Zulfikar and Nadia Lutfi in Saladin the Victorious (1963) (from History of film)
Image 17Old Chinese Cinema in Qufu, Shandong (from Film industry)
Image 18Publicity still for the Egyptian film Yahya el hub (1938) (from Film industry)
Image 19GIF animation from retouched pictures of The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge (1879). (from History of film technology)
Image 20A surviving two-color-component image from the first Technicolor feature film, The Gulf Between (1917) (from History of film technology)
Image 21Edward Raymond Turner's three-color projector, 1902 (from History of film technology)
Image 22
The Pathé Brothers, by Adrien Barrère.
(from Film industry)
Image 23Flying 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)
Image 24A scene from Raja Harishchandra (1913) – credited as the first full-length Indian motion picture. (from Film industry)
Image 25Nestor studio, 1911 (from Film industry)
Image 26Max Skladanowsky (right) in 1934 with his brother Eugen and the Bioscop (from History of film technology)
Image 27Maria Germanova in Anna Karenina (1914) (from Film industry)
Image 28The 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)
Image 29London IMAX has the largest cinema screen in Britain with a total screen size of 520 m². (from Film industry)
Image 30A production scene from the 1950 Hollywood film Julius Caesar starring Charlton Heston (from History of film)
Image 31The first two shots of As Seen Through a Telescope (1900), with the telescope POV simulated by the circular mask (from History of film)
Image 32Don 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)
Image 33A still from The Story of the Kelly Gang (Australia, 1906; 80 min.) (from Film industry)
Image 34Oskar Messter (from History of film)
Image 35The Cinématographe Lumière in projection mode (from History of film technology)
Image 36Georges Méliès (left) painting a backdrop in his studio (from History of film)
Image 37The Wizard of Oz (from History of film)
Image 38Poster for a Biograph Studios release from 1913 (from Film industry)
Image 39Cinema admissions in 1995 (from History of film)
Image 40Charlie Chaplin (from History of film)
Image 41The 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)
Image 42The Hollywood Sign (from Film industry)
Image 43Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (from History of film)
Image 44Off Plus Camera Film Festival in Kraków, 2012, with Andrzej Seweryn, Daniel Olbrychski, and Wojciech Pszoniak on stage. (from Film industry)
Image 45William Friese-Greene (from Film industry)
Image 46Frame from a c.1912 Chronochrome film (from History of film technology)
Image 47Animated GIF of Prof. Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheibe No. X (Trentsensky & Vieweg 1833) (from History of film technology)
Image 48Czermak's 1855 Stereophoroskop (from History of film technology)

American bison ("buffalo") galloping - set to motion using photos by Eadweard Muybridge. Muybridge was an English-born photographer, known primarily for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the celluloid film strip that is still used today.

... that May You Stay Forever Young is the first Hong Kong film to be banned following the amendment of the Film Censorship Ordinance?
... that a Rhode Island TV station started out by re-running an inventory of 50 hours of cartoons and 14 old movies?
... that the first Russian feature film, Stenka Razin, depicts the historical Cossack leader throwing a princess into the Volga?
... that PragerU's hashtag #DETRANS, originally meant to promote their short film, was hijacked by Twitter users?
... that film director Christina Rosendahl started her career with a documentary about her sister Pernille's music career?

Hounsou in 2016

Djimon Gaston Hounsou (/ˈdʒaɪmən ˈuːnsuː/ JY-mən OON-soo; French: [dʒimɔ̃ unsu]; born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese-American actor. He began his career appearing in music videos and made his film debut in Without You I'm Nothing (1990). He then earned widespread recognition for his role as Cinqué in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad (1997), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. For his performances in In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), Hounsou was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he portrays Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Captain Marvel (2019) and What If...? (2021). In the DC Extended Universe, he appears as the Fisherman King in Aquaman (2018) and as the wizard Shazam in Shazam! (2019), Black Adam (2022) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). His other notable films include Stargate (1994), Gladiator (2000), Constantine, The Island (both 2005), Special Forces (2011), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Furious 7 (2015), The Legend of Tarzan (2016), A Quiet Place Part II (2021), Gran Turismo, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (both 2023), Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver and A Quiet Place: Day One (both 2024). (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

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

Image 1

Christopher Nolan garnered several awards and nominations for his direction and writing.

Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife, under their label Syncopy. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the dreams of his victims and is promised to have his criminal status cleared as payment for the implantation of an idea into a target's subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine.

Inception premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on July 8, 2010. It was released in both conventional and IMAX theatres (in the United States and United Kingdom) by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 16. Releases in additional territories followed throughout July and August. Produced on a budget of $160 million, the film grossed $828 million worldwide, concluding its original theatrical run as the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Subsequent re-releases have increased its total gross to $839 million. Inception received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, visual effects, editing, musical score and performances (particularly DiCaprio's). On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 364 reviews. It is considered one of the best films of 2010 and of the decade, having appeared on several critic lists for both categories. (Full article...)
Image 2
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Peirce and Andy Bienan. The film is based on the life of Brandon Teena, a trans man who was beaten, raped, and murdered in 1993 after his male acquaintances found out that he was transgender. Hilary Swank stars as Teena and Chloë Sevigny plays his girlfriend Lana Tisdel. Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III portray Teena's two murderers. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 1999. Fox Searchlight Pictures gave the film a limited release on October 22, 1999. Boys Don't Cry grossed over $11 million at the box office in North America. The film was critically acclaimed, particularly for Swank's acting, with reviewer Michael Sragow, calling the film a "critical knockout". Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, surveyed 76 reviews and judged 88% of them to be positive.

Boys Don't Cry garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for Swank's performance as Teena, its screenplay and its direction. At the 72nd Academy Awards, Swank won for Best Actress, while Sevigny was nominated for Best Supporting Actress; Swank won for Best Actress – Drama, while Sevigny was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture awards at the 57th Golden Globe Awards. Swank was also nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 53rd British Academy Film Awards. At the 4th Golden Satellite Awards, both Swank and Sevigny won their respective categories, and the film was nominated for two additional awards—Best Director and Best Film. (Full article...)
Image 3

Morgan Freeman is an American actor and producer who has had a prolific career on stage and screen. He is known for his deep resonant voice and the gravitas he has lent to his roles. Since making his film debut in 1964, Freeman is known for his roles in genres ranging from dramas, historical epics, thrillers, action adventure, science fiction, and comedies. In a 2022 readers' poll by Empire, he was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.

His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart. His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. (Full article...)
Image 4

James Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began acting on television, guest-starring in Pacific Blue (1997). He landed his breakthrough role in the comedy-drama television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). After his film debut in Never Been Kissed (1999), Franco won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award in the same categories for playing the eponymous actor in the 2001 television biopic James Dean. He went on to play Harry Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), and reprised the role in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). For the last of the three, he garnered a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. His only screen appearance of 2003 was in the ballet film The Company. Franco directed and starred in the comedy The Ape (2005).

After playing one of the title roles in the romantic drama Tristan & Isolde (2006), Franco starred in the Tony Bill-directed war drama Flyboys (2006). Two years later, he played against type in the action-comedy film Pineapple Express, and earned critical acclaim for portraying Scott Smith in the biographical film Milk alongside Sean Penn. For the former, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Comedy. Franco portrayed the trapped canyoneer Aron Ralston in 127 Hours (2010), a survival drama, which earned him nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award, all for Best Actor. Franco appeared in four films in 2011, including the poorly-received fantasy film Your Highness, and the science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), a critical and commercial success. (Full article...)
Image 5
The 75th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 23, 2003, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 2002. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gilbert Cates and was directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Steve Martin hosted for the second time, having previously presided over the 73rd ceremony held in 2001. Three weeks earlier in a ceremony at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on March 1, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Kate Hudson.

Chicago won six awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included The Pianist with three awards, Frida and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with two, and 8 Mile, Adaptation, Bowling for Columbine, The ChubbChubbs!, The Hours, Nowhere in Africa, Road to Perdition, Spirited Away, Talk to Her, This Charming Man, and Twin Towers with one. The telecast garnered about 33 million viewers in the United States, making it the least-watched and lowest-rated televised Oscar ceremony to that point. (Full article...)
Image 6
The 52nd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1979 and took place on April 14, 1980, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 22 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Howard W. Koch and directed by Marty Pasetta. Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson hosted the show for the second consecutive year. Three days earlier, in a ceremony held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on April 11, the Academy Scientific and Technical Awards were presented by hosts Cloris Leachman and William Shatner.

Kramer vs. Kramer won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Benton, Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman, and Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep. Sally Field received Best Actress honors for Norma Rae, and Melvyn Douglas won Best Supporting Actor for Being There. The telecast received a mixed reception, with critics praising Carson's hosting performance but criticising the pacing and predictability of the ceremony. It garnered 49 million viewers in the United States, which was a 6% increase from the previous year. (Full article...)
Image 7

Lawrence at the 2011 Academy Awards

Jennifer Lawrence is an American actress who has received multiple awards and nominations throughout her career, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four Critics' Choice Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

After playing minor roles in several films and television shows, Lawrence starred in her first major role on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009), which earned her a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in a TV Series. In 2008, she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the 65th Venice International Film Festival for the drama The Burning Plain. For her breakout role as a poverty-stricken teenager Ree Dolly in the 2010 acclaimed independent coming-of-age mystery drama Winter's Bone, 20-year-old Jennifer received her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, becoming the second-youngest Best Actress nominee at the time. The film also garnered her Best Actress nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press, BAFTA, SAG, and Critics' Choice award ceremonies, and won a Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review. In 2011, she received several nominations for her portrayal of Mystique in X-Men: First Class, including the People's Choice and Teen Choice Awards ceremonies. (Full article...)
Image 8

Orson Welles (1915–1985) was an American director, actor, writer, and producer who is best remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre and film. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.

While in his twenties, Welles directed a number of stage productions before creating the infamous 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds. Welles's directorial film debut Citizen Kane (1941), in which he also starred as Charles Foster Kane, garnered him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and nominations for Best Actor and Best Director. The film is consistently ranked as the greatest film ever made. Welles's second film was The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), which he wrote and directed. He worked as actor, screenwriter, uncredited producer and uncredited co-director of 1943's Journey Into Fear, and directed and co-starred in 1946's The Stranger, his only substantial commercial success as a director. He then directed and starred in the film-noir The Lady from Shanghai (1947), appearing opposite his estranged wife Rita Hayworth. (Full article...)
Image 9

Kajol is an Indian actress who is known for her work in Hindi films. She made her screen debut in the 1992 film Bekhudi. She was noted for her performance and went on to sign the 1993 commercially successful thriller Baazigar opposite Shah Rukh Khan. She starred in the 1994 film Udhaar Ki Zindagi, which earned her critical acclaim. This was followed by a role in Yeh Dillagi alongside Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan. Kajol featured in five films in 1995. She appeared briefly in the thriller Karan Arjun, and played Simran, an NRI in Aditya Chopra’s romance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, both of which ranked among the highest-grossing Bollywood films of the year, and the success of the latter established her career in Bollywood. As of 2021, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is the longest-running Indian film. Also in 1995, she appeared in the box-office flops Hulchul and Gundaraj. Her only screen appearance of 1996 was in Bambai Ka Babu, a financial failure.

In 1997, Kajol featured in the film Minsara Kanavu, her first Tamil feature. She played an obsessive lover in the mystery film Gupt (1997), and became the first woman to win the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role. Later in 1997, she featured as a poor girl in the romantic film Ishq, a box-office hit. In 1998, she played the leading lady in three romantic comedies, which were among the top-grossing Bollywood productions of the year — Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Also in 1998, she played dual roles in the drama Dushman. The following year, she played the secret lover of Ajay Devgn's character in Dil Kya Kare and starred in the commercially successful film Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain opposite Anil Kapoor. Following this, she starred in the films Raju Chacha (2000) and Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi (2001), both of which performed poorly at the box-office. (Full article...)
Image 10

Olivier in 1972

Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. From 1956 he performed in television roles, for which he won several awards.

In 1939 Olivier appeared in the film Wuthering Heights in the quintessential role of Heathcliff, which garnered him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The following year, he was again nominated for the same award for his portrayal of Maxim de Winter in Rebecca. In 1944, he produced, directed, and appeared as King Henry V of England in Henry V. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, although it failed to win in any competitive category; instead Olivier received a "Special Award" for his work on the film. His next film, Hamlet (1948), became the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and he also received the award for Best Actor. In 1979 Olivier was presented with an Academy Honorary Award to recognise his lifetime of contribution to the art of film. In total, he was nominated for nine other acting Academy Awards, plus one for the direction of Hamlet. For his stage work, Olivier won three Evening Standard Theatre Awards and was nominated for a Tony Award. He made his television debut in 1956 and was subsequently nominated nine times for an Emmy Award, winning on five occasions; he was also nominated for two British Academy Television Awards for his work in the medium. (Full article...)

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