Danish silent film actress Asta Nielsen became a brand name in movie houses around the globe in the early 1900s. Known simply as "The Asta," she exhibited both a subtle eroticism and a naturalistic style in her performances, which propelled her into international stardom. Nielsen's worldwide fame was made possible by film distributors adept at contracting long runs for films in cinemas around the world. This volume examines the role of these newly developed film distribution strategies and the resulting emergence of the international film star.

Public performances using the magic or optical lantern became a prominent part of the social fabric of the late 19th century. Drawing on a rich variety of primary sources, Screen Culture and the Social Question, 1880-1914 investigates how the magic lantern and cinematograph, used at public lectures, church services, and electoral campaigns, became agents of social change. The essays examine how social reformers and charitable organizations used the "art of projection" to raise public awareness of the living conditions of the poor and the destitute, as they argued for reform and encouraged...

The Komedi Bioscoop traces the emergence of a local culture of movie-going in the Netherlands Indies (present-day Indonesia) from 1896 until the First World War in 1914. It outlines the introduction of the new technology by independent touring exhibitors, the constitution of a market for moving picture shows, the embedding of moving picture exhibitions within the local popular entertainment scene, and the Dutch colonial authorities' efforts to control film consumption and distribution. Focusing on the cinema as a social institution in which technology, race, and colonialism converged,...