Film culture in the world exhibitions: modernity and tradition in the Paris of 1925

Abstract

This paper analyzes the participation of the cinema in Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. Since the 1920s, by establishing itself as a means of mass communication, cinema has served more and more as a "showcase" in which the nation could project national virtues to be celebrated in a scenario marked by the imperialist race. In this particular case, the discourses of modernity and tradition reconciled themselves to celebrate the French national character within a framework of growing cultural affirmation of the cinema.