Since cinema’s invention, Europe and the United States have dominated world filmmaking by their influence but not, however, by sheer numbers. In the 1960s, while filmgoing was in decline in the industrialized West, the audience expanded in most other regions, largely because of steady migration from the countryside to the cities. To satisfy this growing urban public, film production expanded in many countries. In 1950, the world was releasing about 2,000 features per year, but by 1980 Asia alone was producing that many. Needless to say, most of these films would never be seen in the West. The larger national industries, such as India, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China, aimed to satisfy domestic tastes. Moreover, some films, such as those of India and Hong Kong, were also able to move across national boundaries and become powerful regional forces.
In the early 1970s, Japan was the world’s most prolific filmmaking country, but in 1975 India surpassed it with 450 films. (By the early 1990s, output would level off at an astonishing 900 films per year.) The romantic, colorful Hindi films, always adorned with exuberant music, won a huge audience across the developing world. Production in South Korea, Pakistan, and the Philippines also expanded. By 1975, Asian countries outside India and Japan yielded one-quarter of the world’s entire feature output.
Most other countries could not match this scale of production, but all catered to local audiences and nearly all tried to send their films abroad. In Latin America and Africa, government support was as volatile as the regional politics. Australia and New Zealand were stabler, and their filmmakers benefited from government support and interest from Hollywood. Some Middle Eastern states, though isolated by politics and religion, could sustain an industry and some regional export. For all, the
Burgeoning film festival scene provided some distribution of quality cinema. Several countries—notably Australia, mainland China, Taiwan, Iran, and South Korea—achieved worldwide renown at various times after 1970.
World History
