1896 in film
Events
- January - In Britain, Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul developed their own film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph).
- January - In the United States, a projector called the Vitascope was designed by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. Armat began working with Thomas Edison to manufacture the Vitascope, which projected motion pictures.
- Pathé Frères film company founded
- April - Thomas Edison and Thomas Armat's Vitascope is used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City
- May 14 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia crowned in Moscow, in the first coronation ever recorded in film.
- French magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès begins experimenting with the new motion picture technology, developing early special effects techniques, including stop-motion photography.
- The first kiss ever on film was in 1896 involving the great Canadian star May Irwin and John C. Rice.
Births
- August 18 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", (d. 1933)
- August 30 - Raymond Massey, actor (d. 1983)