AGFA, Kullmann, Singer & Co. and early cine-film stock

An important aspect of early film production which has remained largely unexplored is that related to the manufacture and marketing of cine-film stock. During the international expansion of industrialised cinematography – from 1905 to 1912 – the Parisian film production companies struggled against the norms dictated by the Eastman Kodak Company, which held a virtual world-wide monopoly on the manufacture of cine film. The first part of this essay presents some aspects of the development of cine-film manufacturing and marketing in Europe with particular regard to Franco-German co-operation. The second half focuses on the growth of AGFA's cine-film manufacturing facilities, the Filmfabrik, during the First World War.