Thessaloniki in Early Cinema History: Cinematic Entanglements and Disentanglements amid Moving Borders in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean
Résumé
This article explores the historiographical significance of the port city of Selanik/Thessaloniki in early cinema history. Formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire, the city was annexed by the modern Greek state during the first Balkan War in the fall of 1912. Moving beyond methodological nationalism, the study delves into the networks of cinema distribution, strategies of exhibition, and cinemagoing activities in the city of Thessaloniki before and after 1912. The aim is to contribute to the discourse on the transnational cinema history of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. Furthermore, by examining Thessaloniki’s interwoven history, this research seeks to enrich our understanding of cinematographic centers and peripheries around 1910. It also strives to provide insights into the discordant chronologies of the dissemination and establishment of cinema by considering a diversity of regional factors across borders.