Introduction
1. The origins of cinema
2. Early period in Europe
3. Early period in America
4. Hollywood
5. Avant-garde cinema
6. German Expressionist films
7. Cinema of the Soviet Union
8. Sound film
9. The studio system
10. Poetic realism in France
11. British cinema
12. American cinema
13. Italian neorealism
14. The New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague)
15. New cinema in Europe
16. New cinema in America
17. Latin American cinema
18. East Asian cinema
19. New Hollywood films
20. European films: the turn of the 21st century
21. Contemporary trends in cinema