Dr Eubulus Timothy receiving his certificate of recognition from Dr Vishwas Deoskar (CEO, IICT), at the BRICS Waves Bazaar 2026 event in Mumbai, India.
CINEMA is a modern concept. Whether in Hollywood, Bollywood, the Amazon or KwaMashu, the cinematic experience is the same. Cinema connects people globally, reflecting traditions and social realities, bypassing our rational defences and providing a space to escape.
The world's first film production studio, the Black Maria, or the Kinetographic Theater, was completed on the grounds of Edison's laboratories at West Orange, New Jersey, in 1893. It was a Scottish inventor, William Dickson, who had perfected the motion picture camera while working for Edison and had decided on the 35mm format.
South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to see and hear sound motion pictures.
On April 19, 1895, the first Kinetoscopes in South Africa were opened to the public in Heywoods Arcade on Pritchard and President streets in Johannesburg – then a small town only nine years old. In August 1895, Lingards Waxworks in Durban exhibited the penny-in-the-slot mechanical novelties. On October 14, 1899, three days after the declaration of the Anglo-Boer War, William Dickson set out for South Africa to record the war on film.
