1906

From changes in distribution and exhibition to formal firsts (with caveats), 1906 carries just a few pieces of oft-cited film history. But this season, on a year that is still very much part of cinema's earliest growth spurts, illustrates the heterogenous landscape of global filmmaking at the time and the thrills it can still offer today.

Carl Bennett, publisher and editor of silentera.com, has run the crucial resource covering the first decades of film since 1999. He selects five films reflecting the growing trend of narrativization of cinema, with one notable exception in his conclusion.

Mario Slugan, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, has literally written the book on fiction in early cinema. With that background and research in mind, he selects four films that may fit into what we consider narrative before turning to a standout “nonfiction” film that looms large for 1906.

Oliver Gaycken, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, has a particular interest in early cinema and popular science. That perspective is brought to bear on most of his five picks, including both fiction and nonfiction films.

Michigan State University professor Joshua Yumibe has spent much of his research career examining color in silent film (and beyond). Having that particular lens, it makes sense that all of his picks contain some aspect of color, most of them quite spectacular.

Most of the picks from Coraline Refort, postdoc fellow at University of Sassari, offer exciting readings through the lens of feminism. But she also examines an animation milestone and a microcosm of film tricks up to 1906.

Maybe it’s just Tristan who is surprised by the film that topped this season’s collective list. But its inclusion at all, and its ubiquity in submitters' lists, reflects that the balance of narrative and actuality is not quite as heavily weighted in the former’s favor as one might expect, even for as early (or late, 11 years after the “birth of cinema” as many measure it) as 1906.