Film History Crash Course

Are you looking to brush up on the history of cinema? Are you trying to cram for a film history class and looking for a cheat sheet? Here is a broad overview of cinematic history condensed into under 8 minutes. You can find the full list of films below the video — and note that the video was released in 2022, but I’ve added films for 2023, 2024, and 2025 to the list below as well.

1878— The Horse in Motion

1888— The Roundhay Garden Scene

1889 — Leisurely Pedestrians, Open-Topped Buses and Hansom Cabs with Trotting Horses

1895 — The Watered Waterer

1896 — The Cabbage Fairy from Alice Guy-Blanche

1897 —After the Ball

1898 —The Four Troublesome Heads

1899 — Beauty and the Best

1900 —Joan of Arc

1901 — What is Seen Through the Keyhole

1902 — La Voyage Dans la Lune

1903 — The Great Train Robbery

1904 — The Voyage Across the Impossible

1905 — The Seven Ages

1906 — The Story of the Kelly Gang

1907 — The Prodigal Son

1908 — Fantasmagorie

1909 — The Yiddisher Boy

1910 — Edison’s Frankenstein

1911 — Little Nemo

1912 — Friends

1913 — Arizona

1914 — The World, The Flesh, and the Devil

1915 — Birth of a Nation

1917 —The Gulf Between

1918 — A Dog’s Life

1919 — Daddy Long Legs

1920 — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

1921 — The Kid

1922 — Nosferatu

1923 — Safety Last

1924 — The Last Laugh

1925 — The Lost World

1926 — The General

1927 — The Jazz Singer

1928 — Steamboat Willie

1929 — Un Chien Andalou

1930 — All Quiet on the Western Front

1931 — M

1932 — Freaks

1933 — King Kong

1934 — It Happened One Night

1935 —Triumph of the Will

1936 —Modern Times

1937 — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1938 — The Lady Vanishes

1939 — Gone with the Wind + The Wizard of Oz

1940 — The Great Dictator

1941 — Citizen Kane

1942 — Casablanca

1943 — Meshes of the Afternoon

1944 — Double Indemnity

1945 — The Lost Weekend

1946 — It’s a Wonderful Life

1947 — Brute Force

1948 — Treasure of the Sierra Madre

1949 — Stray Dog

1950 — Rashomon

1951 — Ace in the Hole

1952 — Ikiru

1953 — The Wages of Fear

1954 — On the Waterfront

1955 — Pather Panchali

1956 — A Man Escaped

1957 — 12 Angry Men

1958 — Vertigo

1959 — Shadows

1960 — Breathless

1961 — Last Year at Marienbad

1962 — Lawrence of Arabia

1963 — 8 ½

1964 – Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

1965 — Repulsion

1966 — the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

1967 — Bonnie & Clyde + the Graduate (New Hollywood movement kickstarted)

1968— Night of the Living Dead

1969 — Midnight Cowboy

1970 — Five Easy Pieces

1971 — McCabe & Mrs. Miller

1972 — The Godfather

1973 — The Exorcist

1974 — Chinatown

1975 — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

1976 — Network

1977 — Eraserhead

1978 — The Deer hunter

1979 — Apocalypse Now

1980 — Raging Bull

1981 — Reds

1982 — Fitzcarraldo

1983 — Project A

1984 — Paris, Texas

1985 — Come and See

1986 — Blue Velvet

1987 — Wings of Desire

1988 — Die Hard

1989 — The Killer

1990 — Goodfellas

1991 — The Lovers on the Bridge

1992 — Malcolm X

1993 — Three Colors: Blue

1994 — Pulp Fiction

1995 — Heat

1996 — Fargo

1997 — Boogie Nights

1998 — The Truman Show

1999 — The Matrix

2000 — Requiem for a Dream

2001 — Mulholland Drive

2002 — City of God

2003 — Oldboy

2004 — Before Sunset

2005 — Cache

2006 — Children of Men

2007 — No Country for Old Men

2008 — Synecdoche New York

2009 — Dogtooth

2010 — The Social Network

2011 — A Separation

2012 — The Hunt

2013 — 12 Years a Slave

2014 — Birdman

2015 — Mad Max: Fury Road

2016 — Moonlight

2017 — The Square

2018 — Burning

2019 —The Irishman

2020 —Another Round

2021 —The Worst Person in the World

2022 —Everything Everywhere All at Once

2023 —Zone of Interest

2024 —The Seed of the Sacred Fig

2025 —One Battle After Another