Cinéma asiatique

Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia. However, in countries like the United States, it is often used to refer only to the cinema of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. West Asian cinema is sometimes classified as part of Middle Eastern cinema, along with the cinema of Egypt. The cinema of Central Asia is often grouped with the Middle East or, in the past, the cinema of the Soviet Union during the Soviet Central Asia era. North Asia is dominated by Siberian Russian cinema, and is thus considered part of European cinema. East Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, including the Japanese anime industry and action films of Hong Kong. South Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of India, the cinema of Pakistan, the cinema of Bangladesh, and the cinema of Nepal. Southeast Asian cinema is typified by the cinema of the Philippines – one of the pioneers in Asian cinema, Thailand, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries. The cinema of Central Asia and the southern Caucasus is typified by Iranian cinema and the cinema of Tajikistan. West Asian cinema is typified by Arab cinema, Iranian cinema, Israeli cinema (which may overlap with Jewish cinema), and Turkish cinema. Precursors of film A 5,200-year-old earthen bowl found in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This is believed to be an example of early animation. Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher circa 500 BC, pondered the phenomenon of inverted light from the outside world beaming through a small hole in the opposite wall in a darkened room. Shadow plays first appeared during the Han Dynasty and later gain popularity across Asia. Around 180 AD, Ting Huan (丁緩) created an elementary zoetrope in China. In 1021, Alhazen, an Iraqi scientist, experimented with the same optical principle described by Mo-Ti, and wrote of the results in his Book of Optics, which provided the first clear description and correct analysis of the camera obscura.