1895 The Kinetescope (invented by Thomas Edison) is a box in which people could see a moving image. The first Kinetescopes in South Africa were seen by the public on April 19, 1895 in Herwoods Arcade on Pritchard and President Streets in Johannesburg - then a small town only nine years old.
1906 The first film on sport was screened at the Tivoli Music Hall in Cape Town. It was of the England versus South Africa cricket match at Newlands, apparently shot by an amateur cameraman.
1910 On 11 December 1910 the first "Electric Theatre" for "Coloured People Only" was opened on the corner of Grey and Alice Streets in Durban. The first programmes showed scenes outside the mosque in Grey Street.The Great Kimberly Diamond Robbery was released. It was the first South African full-length feature drama film produced entirely in the country.The Cape Town Pageant was filmed and screened extensively all over the country to celebrate the Act of Union.
1934 The first tourist film, a serial cinema magazine, Our Land, was made by African film productions.
1948 Cecil Kellaway became the first South African actor to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor in Henry Koster's The Luck of the Irish, but lost to Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
1954 The South African Society of Cinematographers (SASC) was founded.
1961 The South African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO) was established.South Africa's first western genre film, Ken Annakin's The Hellions, was released. This was also the first co-production between South Africa, Britain (Annakin was a British director) and the USA. Jamie Uys co-starred and was also producer on the film.
1973 Boesman en Lena, directed by Ross Deverish, was the first feature film to portray the poverty and enforced removals of people classified as "black". It won a gold and silver medal at the 6th Atlanta Film Festival in the United States.
1981 Video cassette recorders caused a revolution in the industry, spurring on film rentals for home viewing, and giving birth to the retail industry. This was followed by the launch of the black television services TV2/3 by the SABC.
1995 M-Net introduced the first digital satellite pay-TV service in Africa - DSTV. This service was second in the world by only six weeks.
1997 South Africa, and particularly Cape Town, became an increasingly popular destination for foreign film commercials.Sithengi (isiZulu for 'we buy') the first South African film market to attract international interest, was staged in Cape Town in November.
2003 M Net puts out a movie of the month brief, commissions eight movies, and commits to investing 11 million in the project.
Many of the older films (up to 1980) mention on this site can be viewed by the public, provided they are booked in advance. They are housed in the National Film Archive in Pretoria at 698 Church Street East.
1906 The first film on sport was screened at the Tivoli Music Hall in Cape Town. It was of the England versus South Africa cricket match at Newlands, apparently shot by an amateur cameraman.
1910 On 11 December 1910 the first "Electric Theatre" for "Coloured People Only" was opened on the corner of Grey and Alice Streets in Durban. The first programmes showed scenes outside the mosque in Grey Street.The Great Kimberly Diamond Robbery was released. It was the first South African full-length feature drama film produced entirely in the country.The Cape Town Pageant was filmed and screened extensively all over the country to celebrate the Act of Union.
1934 The first tourist film, a serial cinema magazine, Our Land, was made by African film productions.
1948 Cecil Kellaway became the first South African actor to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor in Henry Koster's The Luck of the Irish, but lost to Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
1954 The South African Society of Cinematographers (SASC) was founded.
1961 The South African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO) was established.South Africa's first western genre film, Ken Annakin's The Hellions, was released. This was also the first co-production between South Africa, Britain (Annakin was a British director) and the USA. Jamie Uys co-starred and was also producer on the film.
1973 Boesman en Lena, directed by Ross Deverish, was the first feature film to portray the poverty and enforced removals of people classified as "black". It won a gold and silver medal at the 6th Atlanta Film Festival in the United States.
1981 Video cassette recorders caused a revolution in the industry, spurring on film rentals for home viewing, and giving birth to the retail industry. This was followed by the launch of the black television services TV2/3 by the SABC.
1995 M-Net introduced the first digital satellite pay-TV service in Africa - DSTV. This service was second in the world by only six weeks.
1997 South Africa, and particularly Cape Town, became an increasingly popular destination for foreign film commercials.Sithengi (isiZulu for 'we buy') the first South African film market to attract international interest, was staged in Cape Town in November.
2003 M Net puts out a movie of the month brief, commissions eight movies, and commits to investing 11 million in the project.
Many of the older films (up to 1980) mention on this site can be viewed by the public, provided they are booked in advance. They are housed in the National Film Archive in Pretoria at 698 Church Street East.