Also commonly known as the 7th Art, cinema can be defined as the art, or industry, of film production.
The term comes from the Greek word “kinematographos”, composed by the words “kinema” (movement) and “grafos” (writing, record); it is the clear that movement is an intrinsic part of the cinema, always accompanied by some type of record, and it is this combination that allows the creation of a narrative. This way, cinema can be perceived as a narrative form that uses moving images to tell a story, and that can be accompanied with sound or not.
Cinema was the last art created by mankind, according to Ricciotto Canudo’s “Manifesto of the Seven Arts”, and it was officially invented by the Lumière brothers in 1895.
Even though it is one of the most recent forms of artistic expressions known, cinema is one of the arts that had more changes and developments since its creation until this day, mainly due to the great technological development of the XX and XXI centuries. Besides, cinema had a great acceptation from the public since the beginning, and it quickly spread to the entire world, being the basis for the creation of a global scale industry, that provides work for millions of people worldwide, and that moves huge amounts of money every year.
Along with the strong technological and economic impact the invention of cinema had in modern society, this form of art also had a great social and cultural influence; besides the fact that it can still be considered a new form of art, in comparison to painting or music, for example, cinema is one of the most consumed art forms on a global level, and its influence and the effect of the topics approached by it in society are undeniable. The recognition of the importance of cinema is proven, among many other things, in the wide range of well-known prizes created to recognize the best works and professionals in the area, being the Oscars awarded every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
It is then very clear and perceivable the impact cinema had and still has in modern society, even though the history of cinema has just started being written, and it is expectable that this form of art continues to grow over the next years, continuing to be one of the most important economic, technologic and cultural pillars of societies worldwide.
