French cinema comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad. France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its significant contributions to the art form and the film-making process itself. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle Vague, began in the country, it is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the French government. Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason, French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland, Russia and Georgia are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in other countries, such as Luc Besson, Jacques Tourneur, or Francis Veber in the United States. Another element supporting this fact is that Paris has the highest density of cinemas in the world, measured by the number of movie theaters per inhabitant, that in most "downtown Paris" movie theaters, foreign movies which would be secluded to "art houses" cinemas in other places are shown alongside "mainstream" works.

Philippe Binant realized, on 2 February 2000, the first digital cinema projection in Europe, with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments, in Paris. Paris boasts the Cité du cinéma, a major studio north of the city, Disney Studio, a theme park devoted to the cinema and the third theme park near the city behind Disneyland and Parc Asterix. France is the most successful film industry in Europe in terms of number of films produced per annum, with a record-breaking 300 feature-length films produced in 2015. France is one of the few countries where non-American productions have the biggest share: American films only represented 44.9% of total admissions in 2014. This is due to the commercial strength of domestic productions, which accounted for 44,5% of admissions in 2014; the French film industry is closer to being self-sufficient than any other country in Europe, recovering around 80–90% of costs from revenues generated in the domestic market alone. In 2013, France was the 2nd largest exporter of films in the world after the United States.

A study in April 2014 showed the positive image which French cinema maintains around the world, being the most appreciated cinema after American cinema. Les frères Lumière released the first projection with the Cinematograph, in Paris on 28 December 1895; the French film industry in the late 19th century and early 20th century was the world's most important. Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinématographe and their L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat in Paris in 1895 is considered by many historians as the official birth of cinematography; the early days of the industry, from 1896 to 1902, saw the dominance of four firms: Pathé Frères, the Gaumont Film Company, the Georges Méliès company, the Lumières. Méliès invented many of the techniques of cinematic grammar, among his fantastic, surreal short subjects is the first science fiction film A Trip to the Moon in 1902). In 1902 the Lumières abandoned everything but the production of film stock, leaving Méliès as the weakest player of the remaining three.

From 1904 to 1911 the Pathé Frères company led the world in film distribution. At Gaumont, pioneer Alice Guy-Blaché was made head of production and oversaw about 400 films, from her first, La Fée aux Choux, in 1896, through 1906, she continued her career in the United States, as did Maurice Tourneur and Léonce Perret after World War I. In 1907 Gaumont owned and operated the biggest movie studio in the world, along with the boom in construction of "luxury cinemas" like the Gaumont-Palace and the Pathé-Palace, cinema became an economic challenger to legitimate theater by 1914. Among the most prolific film scholars on French Cinema in the English-speaking world is Dr Catherine O'Brien, former Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and French at Kingston University, London who obtained a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Doctor of Philosophy both in French and German from the University of Hull. After World War I, the French film industry suffered because of a lack of capital, film production decreased as it did in most other European countries.

This allowed the United States film industry to enter the European cinema market, because American films could be sold more cheaply than European productions, since the studios had recouped their costs in the home market. When film studios in Europe began to fail, many European countries began to set import barriers. France installed an import quota of 1:7, meaning for every seven foreign films imported to France, one French film was to be produced and shown in French cinemas. During the period between World War I and World War II, Jacques Feyder and Jean Vigo became two of the founders of poetic realism in French cinema, they dominated French impressionist cinema, along with Abel Gance, Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein. In 1931, Marcel Pagnol filmed the first of his great trilogy Marius, César, he followed this with other films including The Baker's Wife. Other notable films of the 1930s included René Clair's Under the Roofs of Paris, Jean Vigo's L'Atalante, Jacques Feyder's Carnival in Flanders, Julien Duvivier's La belle equipe.

In 1935, re

Andréa Mbuyi-Mutombo is a Congolese football player of Belgian descent, a free agent. Mbuyi-Mutombo began his career in the youth from Anderlecht in 2006 joined FC Brussels. After one year at Strombeek he was signed for Portsmouth. Mbuyi was sent on loan from Portsmouth to feeder club Zulte Waregem on 22 August 2008, he scored on his debut for Waregem, scoring in the 89th minute against Mechelen, just minutes after being substituted into the game. He scored yet again in his next match against Tubize. After only six months, the Congolese midfielder returned to Portsmouth from Zulte Waregem, where he played 14 games and scored three goals. Mutombo was supposed to stay in Belgium on loan until June, but the Belgian club officials were not happy with his attitude. Following his release, he underwent trials at Dutch Eredivisie side NEC, he was linked with moves to Sporting Lisbon and Sporting Braga. On 19 June 2009, the 18-year-old attacking midfielder joined Standard Liège on a two-year deal. On 11 December 2011, Mbuyi-Mutombo moved to Cercle Brugge on a one-year deal.

After spells with Rijeka, Istra and Fréjus Saint-Raphaël, he signed a one-year deal with Scottish club Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 30 July 2015. He scored his first goal for Inverness in a 2–0 Scottish Cup win over Stirling Albion on 19 January 2016. Mutombo returned to Scotland in August 2018 signing a one-year deal with Partick Thistle. Mutombo left Thistle in January 2019 having scored 3 goals in all competitions, he was a youth international for Belgium, at under-19 level. In 2011, he made his debut for the DR Congo national team. Andréa Mbuyi-Mutombo at Soccerway

Ethel Elizabeth Froud was a British trade unionist and feminist born at The Willows, Maidstone, Kent. She helped create the National Union of Women Teachers as a British feminist autonomous union, she was the daughter of his wife. Although nothing is known of her early education, she became a teacher in the West Ham borough of east London; as a member of the National Union of Teachers, she campaigned to create a franchise of women within the organization both locally and nationally without success. She joined the Women Teachers' Franchise Union and was a speaker and member of its committee for two years from 1915 to 1917, she joined the National Federation of Women Teachers inside the NUT and became honorary secretary in 1913. She took over this position from Joseph Tate, she resigned from teaching in 1917 to become the first full-time paid secretary of the federation. She helped, she was the first General Secretary of the National Union of Women Teachers from 1917-1940. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union as a militant suffragist and member of the fife and drum band, whose drum major was Mary Leigh.

She spoke at suffrage meetings. At one point, she was protected from a mob at a railway station by being locked in a waiting room by the railway officials, she argued for equal pay at country-wide meetings. She was an organizer and unifier within the NUWT, pulled together campaigns with other feminist groups, such as the Open Door Council and the Six Point Group in the 1920s. To defend her position that women should take part in public affairs, she ran for St Pancras Borough Council on the Labour Party platform in November 1925, but was unsuccessful, her campaign slogan was'deeds not words' the slogan of the WSPU. Froud never married and was quoted as saying'we can't have it said that we celibates are only some fraction of a human being', she lived in Sussex Downs after retirement, where she died on 21 May 1941. Her belief system was summarized by a stained glass inscription in her office at NUWT headquarters that read,'The dreams of those that labour are the only ones that come true.' Kean, Hilda.

Deeds not words: the lives of suffragette teachers. Pluto Press. ISBN 9780745304137. OCLC 21080844