Cinema of Asia

Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia. However, in countries like the United States, it is often used to refer only to the cinema of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as part of Middle Eastern cinema, along with the cinema of Egypt. The cinema of Central Asia is often grouped with the Middle East or, in the past, the cinema of the Soviet Union during the Soviet Central Asia era. North Asia is dominated by Siberian Russian cinema, and is thus considered part of European cinema.

East Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, including the Japanese anime industry and action films of Hong Kong. Southeast Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of the Philippines – one of the pioneers in Asian cinema, Thailand, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries.

South Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of India, the cinema of Pakistan, the cinema of Bangladesh, and the cinema of Nepal.

The cinema of Central Asia and the southern Caucasus is typified by Iranian cinema and the cinema of Tajikistan. West Asian cinema is typified by Arab cinema, Iranian cinema, Israeli cinema (which may overlap with Jewish cinema), and Turkish cinema.

A 5,200-year-old earthen bowl found in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This is believed to be an example of early animation.

Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher circa 500 BC, pondered the phenomenon of inverted light from the outside world beaming through a small hole in the opposite wall in a darkened room. Shadow plays first appeared during the Han dynasty and later gain popularity across Asia. Around 180 AD, Ting Huan (丁緩) created an elementary zoetrope in China.

The first short films from Asia were produced during the 1890s. The first short films produced in Japan were Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook) and Shinin no Sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse), both from 1898. The first Indian short film was also produced in 1898, The Flower of Persia, directed by Hiralal Sen.

In the early 1900s, Israeli silent movies were screened in sheds, cafes and other temporary structures. In 1905, Cafe Lorenz opened on Jaffa Road in the Jewish neighborhood of Neve Tzedek. From 1909, the Lorenz family began screening movies at the cafe. In 1925, the Kessem Cinema was housed there for a short time. The first East Asian feature film was Japan's The Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara (1912). It was followed by India's first feature-length silent film, the period piece drama Raja Harishchandra (1913), by Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema. By the next decade, the output of Indian cinema was an average of 27 films per year.