South African film history vs the history of motion pictures in South Africa

Abstract

In the light of modern concepts of film historiography, this report comments on the current state of the history of early South African film; it criticizes the 'country of origin' principle and makes a plea for the concept of 'cinema history.' Understood as a transnational history of reception, the concept completes production-dominated film historiography by including distribution and presentation of international films as equal aspects of South African cinema history.