Like all art forms, cinema needs to evolve. Over the course of its history, film art has seen an incredible amount of changes of all sorts. Largely, these changes have come from film movements: Periods of time when a group of filmmakers has done new and exciting things with the craft, under a relatively unified creative vision and aesthetic similarities.

There have been numerous film movements over the decades all across the world, all trying to revolutionize the medium. Only a noteworthy few, however, can genuinely be counted as turning points in the history of movies. From the controversial Dogme 95 to the widely-known French New Wave, these movements had an effect on cinema that can still be seen today.

10 Parallel Cinema

Subir Banerjee in 'Pather Panchali' looking over the camera
Image via Aurora Film Corporation

Also known as the Indian New Wave, Parallel Cinema started to take form between the '40s and '60s in India. Known for its realism and naturalism, the fact that it borrowed a lot from Indian literature of its time only made it an even stronger document of the country's society and way of life, one which is still studied today.

The movement's main exponent was Satyajit Ray, who's still considered one of the best Indian directors of all time. Having made brilliant films like The Hero and the Apu trilogy (starting with Pather Panchali), Ray proves what wonders Parallel Cinema was able to achieve with simple stories, until commercial implications effectively killed the movement in the '90s. However, its effects are still visible in Indian cinema today.

9 Hong Kong New Wave

Faye Wong looking through a window in 'Chungking Express'
Image via Ocean Shores Video

Hong Kong cinema started to see a meteoric rise in the late '70s. During the '80s, it flourished so beautifully that a movement now known as the Hong Kong New Wave began to surge. The country's filmmakers started to experiment with genre and take bold risks, all while taking a gritty look at even the most uncomfortable parts of Hong Kong society.

Wong Kar-wai has pretty much become the face of the movement, thanks to iconic masterpieces like Chungking Express, but there have been plenty of other directors to come out of this artistic vision, such as the famous John Woo with movies like Hard Boiled. The momentum hasn't ceased, since it's considered that the Hong Kong New Wave is still going.

8 Dogme 95

The Celebration 1998
Image via Scanbox Danmark

Film movements are typically very loose and far from set in stone. That wasn't the case with Dogme 95, started by Denmark's two best-known living directors: Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. This is known for trying to bring cinema back to its basics through a very strict set of rules, something pretty much unheard of in cinematic movements.

You can actually find all 35 films that came out of Dogme 95 on their website, from Vinterberg's The Celebration to von Trier's The Idiots. Although the movement has ended, it inspired indie cinema to go for more stripped-down productions focusing on storytelling and emotion, an effect that continues to spread.

7 Cinéma Du Look

Léon- The Professional (1994)   (1)
Image via Gaumont Buena Vista International

Historically, France has unarguably been one of the most important countries for the development of cinema—And it has its high-quality film movements to back that up. Cinéma Du Look emerged in the '80s, and the name translates to "Cinema of the look". That explains all you need to know: Its main concern was producing visually striking movies.

Luc Besson made Leon: The Professional, Leos Carax made Mauvais Sang, and plenty of other directors also gave Cinéma du Look some of their own unique spice. It contributed to the visual language of not just French movies, but international cinema as a whole.

6 Surrealism

Un-Chien-Andalou-1
Image via Les Grands Films Classiques

Cinematic surrealism is now pretty much a subgenre of its own. In order for it to get to that point, though, a surrealist film movement arose back in the infancy of the art form, between the '20s and '30s. Through it, filmmakers strove to subvert storytelling conventions and use movies as a medium to express dreamlike, irrational imagery.

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí started it all with Un Chien Andalou, one of the most bizarre movies ever made, and numerous other directors around Europe expanded upon it. Nowadays, you can find elements of surrealism in countless films from all countries and periods, with directors like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky dedicating practically their entire careers to surrealist filmmaking.

5 Soviet Montage

surrealist shot in Dziga Vertov's "Man With a Movie Camera", that man standing atop a giant movie camera
Image via VUFKU

Of all the technological and formal advancements that shaped cinema, editing was arguably the most important. During the '20s, filmmakers were coming up with new and better ways to tell stories through movies. The Soviet Union's contribution in this field has come to be known as Soviet Montage, characterized by experimentation, rhythm, and emotion achieved solely through editing.

From the legendary Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein to Dziga Vertov's revolutionary documentary Man With a Movie Camera, Soviet filmmakers during this time took editing to new territories, and turned it into the incredibly powerful tool that it remains today.

4 German Expressionism

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - 1920
Image via Decla-Film

One of the best-known film movements, German Expressionism existed between the '10s and the '30s. In the aftermath of World War I, Germany and its society were left with feelings of isolation, fear, and anxiety. The result in cinema was reflected in the form of unprecedentedly dark stories told through dramatic visuals.

The movement is remembered for masterpieces such as Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, and Fritz Lang's Metropolis. German Expressionism lay the foundation for cinematic genres like film noir, horror, and sci-fi as we know them today, leaving an indelible mark in film history.

3 Italian Neorealism

Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola looking at each other in Bicycle Thieves
Image via Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche

Cinema was never the same after Italian Neorealism. Emerging in the late '40s and early '50s in response to the aftermath of World War II, it was a movement seeking to critique the harsh conditions of the contemporary working class and show the social issues and struggles of society at the time, particularly in Italy.

Many of the best Italian Neorealist movies are considered among the best films ever made, from Bicycle Thieves to Umberto D. It served as the basis of plenty of film movements that came after it, and of the level of realism and naturalism that many modern films dare to tell their stories in.

2 French New Wave

cleo from 5 to 70
Image via Athos Films

Perhaps the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they think of film movements is the French New Wave. Emerging during the late '50s and early '60s, it marked a complete departure from traditional filmmaking conventions, with directors looking to bring a fresher and more rebellious perspective to the table through low-budget, highly self-aware productions.

Multiple legendary directors saw their rise in fame during this time, thanks to movies as iconic as Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless. The French New Wave is perhaps the most influential cinematic movement of all, and each of the films it produced are some of the most delightful celebrations of cinema as a medium that you can find.

1 New Hollywood

A man whispering something into Marlon Brando's ear in The Godfather
Image via Paramount Pictures

The beautiful thing about cinema is that it has a history that spans the entire world, but Hollywood is arguably the biggest and most important part of the film industry and has been for some time. In large part, that's thanks to New Hollywood, also known as the American New Wave or the Hollywood Renaissance. It saw a departure from the traditional studio system into the terrain of more personal, creative filmmaking.

Many of cinema's greatest masterpieces were made during this era, from The Godfather to Taxi Driver, Star Wars, and beyond. These were films that pushed the envelope like no other film movement had done before, resulting in perhaps the most interesting, fruitful, and influential time that cinema has ever seen.

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