It can be argued that cinema was created in France by Louis Lumière in 1895 with the invention of the cinématographe, the first true motion-picture camera and projector. While there were other cameras and devices invented earlier that were capable of projecting intermittent motion of images, the cinématographe was the first device capable of recording and externally projecting images in such a way as to convey motion. Early films such as Lumière's La Sortie de l'usine, a minute-long film of workers leaving the Lumière factory, captured the imagination of the nation and quickly inspired the likes of Georges Méliès, Alice Guy, and Charles Pathé. Through the years, French cinema has been responsible for producing some of the world's best directors—Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Louis Malle—and actors—Charles Boyer, Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, and Audrey Tautou. The Historical Dictionary of French Cinema covers the history of French film from the silent era to the present in a concise and up to date volume detailing the development of French cinema and major theoretical and cultural issues related to it. This is done through a chronology, an introduction, photographs, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on many of the major actors, directors, films, movements, producers, and studios associated with French cinema. Going beyond mere biographical information, entries also discuss the impact and significance of each individual, film, movement, or studio included. This detailed, scholarly analysis of the development of film in France is useful to both the novice and the expert alike.

"Recommended...." - Library Journal, 15 August 2007

"...recommended...a useful reference for anyone involved in the film industry." - American Reference Books Annual, March 2008

"Oscherwitz (French and francophone studies, Southern Methodist U.) and Higgins (comparative literature and film, Pennsylvania State U.) provide a dictionary of French film from the silent era to the present. The dictionary is meant to be an overview rather than comprehensive, and entries encompass actors, directors, films, movements, producers, studios, cinematographers, and screenwriters. Examples are Jean Cocteau, Diva, Catherine Deneuve, poetic realism, and Francois Truffaut. The introduction traces the history of French film as an industry and art form. The volume is aimed at academics, students, and general readers." - Reference and Research Book News, August 2007

"A valuable reference work if only for being one of a kind in English. However, that value is fully earned given the thoroughness with which it succeeds in its project....Particularly worthy of praise is its extensive cross-referencing, made possible by the authors' diligence, which allows one to get lost within its pages seeking out connections between entries. The authors have ultimately succeeded in the project of writing a historical dictionary: providing a reference that embodies the connections, influences, and interactions of history as well as enabling the reader ready access to and an understanding of that complex network." - Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal

"The authors have amassed an impressive body of information about the directors, movies, actors, and movements that defined French cinema, while documenting recent trends that have blurred the boundaries of such traditional notions of national cinema. From the dozens of cross-listed entries, the reader gets a sense of how national identity has always played a central role in French film, from the staged documentaries of the Lumiere brothers to the more recent heritage films, with their equally imagined construction of historic events and nostalgic longing for a mythical French past." - Film Quarterly, Winter 2007-08

"The Historical Dictionary of French Cinema presents a broad overview of French cinema and its development all in a reasonably sized, 450-page single volume....It is a useful reference work and source book on the French cinema, which will be found of interest to students of the cinema, those on film studies courses, and those wishing to study the place and influence of French cinema in the world." - s

"These authors of the Historical Dictionary of French Cinema have compiled a concise collection of both factual history and the effect of individual directors, films, and movements....A comprehensive and user-friendly guide to those who need either a quick refresher on or an introduction to the thriving national cinema of France." - Film Matters, Spring 2010