Centenaries

From July 6, 2023 to April 28, 2024 – Museu del Cinema

Tomàs Mallol and Amateur Cinema (1923-2023)

In 2023, we are commemorating two centenaries that happily coincide: Tomàs Mallol and amateur cinema.

Tomàs Mallol is known in particular for being a collector of cinema and pre-cinema and his collection was the origin of the museum you are now in. However, Mallol had another side to his character that is less widely-known, but no less interesting, that of an amateur filmmaker: a brilliant career made up of thirty-one short films, many of which achieved public recognition, winning various awards and prizes.

In 1923, the first amateur cinema cameras were marketed: the Pathé Baby in Europe, with the 9.5 mm film format; and the 16 mm format from Kodak in North America, making it possible for the general public to be able to shoot and screen their own films. The commercial and technological success of these devices was immediate and indisputable and marked the starting point of the worldwide phenomenon of amateur cinema

This exhibition aims to offer a double tribute. Firstly, to Tomàs Mallol, as an amateur cinematographer, as well as to the Catalan amateur filmmakers of his generation who took centre stage in the golden age of this type of cinema, made with absolute independence and creative freedom. And secondly, to the first amateur film devices, which a hundred years ago revolutionized the practice of "making movies", bringing them closer to aficionados and the general public.