As a medium of artistic expression, scientific analysis and communication, the motion picture has been instrumental in the transformation of Canadian society. As with photography, the technology behind it has been subject to almost constant technological innovation since its invention in 1895. Only one year after the world's first screen projection motion picture was shown in Paris by the Lumière Brothers, Canada's first projection took place in Montreal on June 27, 1896.

The profound influence of motion pictures on Canadian society cannot be overstated. From professional to amateur home movies, film records and constructs our individual and cultural visions of ourselves.

Artifacts related to film technology have come to the Museum from prominent Canadian commercial and amateur studios, universities and archives and from individual donors. The wide range of cameras, projectors and processing equipment reflects the diversity of use by all who have used the technology since its inception.

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