Iluminace 2023, 35(3):135-158 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1767

Nation-building Across Media. Lumière films’ intervention in the Hungarian visual sphere

Izabella Füzi
University of Szeged

One of the major mediatized political events in Hungary was the procession organized on 8 June, 1896 as part of the Hungarian millennial celebrations intended to express national progress, pride and unity. Captured by professional and amateur photographs, represented in drawings, paintings, a cyclorama, as well as actuality films recorded by the Lumière travelling operators, the political event of the procession reached a much larger audience than the actual public present. The article aims to show the differences between the staged event of the procession intended to bolster the image of a unified nation and its visual mediation ‒ for example by moving images accessible for a potentially global audience. The analysis proceeds through the comparison of contemporary accounts and visual representations of the event, confronting different models of spectatorships and identities in experiencing and representing the celebration.

Keywords: early cinema, Hungary, Lumière, 19th century nation-building, visual sphere

Received: May 21, 2023; Revised: December 3, 2023; Accepted: January 10, 2024; Published: January 16, 2024  Show citation

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Füzi, I. (2023). Nation-building Across Media. Lumière films’ intervention in the Hungarian visual sphere. Iluminace, 35(3), 135-158. doi: 10.58193/ilu.1767
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