Portal:Film


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

A film, 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 sometimes feature other sensory stimuli.

Films are produced by recording people and objects with cameras or by creating them using animation techniques and special effects. They comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the illusion of motion is seen by the viewer. Flickering between frames is not noticeable due to an effect traditionally known as persistence of vision, and now more specifically known as flicker fusion, whereby the visual system processes a sufficiently fast succession of pictures and interruptions into a steady image of averaged brightness. (Full article...)

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Theatrical poster, Batavia

Terang Boelan (Indonesian pronunciation: [t̪əˌraŋ ˈbulan]; Indonesian for "Full Moon", Terang Bulan in the Enhanced Spelling System) is a 1937 film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Written by Saeroen, directed by Albert Balink, and starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an opium smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess. It was aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936).

Terang Boelan was a commercial success in both the Indies and abroad, earning 200,000 Straits dollars in British Malaya. This success revived the faltering domestic film industry and inspired films aimed at Malay audiences in Malaya, creating a formula of songs, beautiful scenery and romance that was followed for decades afterwards. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran described it as a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema for its catalytic effect on the industry's growth. Like many Indonesian films of the era, Terang Boelan has been lost since at least the 1970s. (Portal:Film/Featured content)

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Filmstrip
Filmstrip
Credit: Cinematographica

Filmstrip of one of the three Monkeyshines films produced by Thomas Edison's laboratory in 1889–90 for the early cylinder version of the Kinetoscope.

Did you know...

  • ... that racing driver Neil Cunningham was also a stunt double in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace?
  • ... that actor Ryan Clayton joked that he played various villains in productions due to his eyes or hair?
  • ... that Mirza Ebrahim Khan Sahhafbashi opened the first commercial movie theater in Iran, only for it to be banned within a month?
  • ... that the documentary ...So Goes the Nation is named after Ohio's history of voting for the winning presidential candidate?
  • ... that the Chinese silent film Lustrous Pearls has been described as blurring the differences between male and female bodies through long shots?

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Malek in 2026

Rami Said Malek (English: /ˈrɑːmi ˈmælɪk/ ⓘ; Arabic: رامي سعيد مالك, Egyptian Arabic: [ˈɾɑːmi sæˈʕiːd ˈmæːlek]; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He gained recognition for portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2019, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category. He played computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Born in Torrance, California, to Egyptian immigrant parents of Coptic background, he studied theater before acting in plays in New York City. He had supporting roles in film and television, including the Fox Broadcasting Company sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007), the HBO miniseries The Pacific (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012), and the Night at the Museum film trilogy (2006–2014). Since his breakthrough, Malek has starred in the crime film The Little Things (2021), played the main antagonist Lyutsifer Safin in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021), portrayed David L. Hill in Christopher Nolan's biographical film Oppenheimer (2023), starred as a Central Intelligence Agency cryptographer in the spy film The Amateur (2025), and starred as psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in the film Nuremberg (2025). (Full article...)

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

Film news

6 November 2026 –
American cinematographer Thomas Markle is arrested in Tampa, Florida, over allegations of possessing child sexual abuse material. (BBC News) (CBS News)

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Martin Scorsese
Because of the movies I make, they get nervous, because they think of me as difficult and angry. I AM difficult and angry [laughs], but they don't expect a sense of humor. And the only thing that gets me through is a sense of humor.

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