Cinema of Wales

The Cinema of Wales comprises the art of film and creative movies made in Wales or by Welsh filmmakers either locally or abroad. Welsh cinema began in the late-19th century, led by Welsh-based director William Haggar. Wales continued to produce film of varying quality throughout the 20th century, in both the Welsh and English languages, though indigenous production was curtailed through a lack of infrastructure and finance, which prevented the growth of the industry nationally. Despite this, Wales has been represented in all fields of the film making process, producing actors and directors of note.

Wales has a long film making history, with the first films shot in 1896, just a year after the development of the Lumières' cinematographe. The first known film to be recorded in Wales was by American Birt Acres featuring a royal visit to Cardiff by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. The film was later shown at the Great Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition in Cardiff's Cathays Park in June 1896. Indigenous film production began in 1898, when Rhyl based Arthur Cheetham began recording silent 'short' films of local events. His first film was shown in January 1898 of children playing on Rhyl sands.

The first Wales based film-maker of enduring stature was William Haggar, who made over 30 fiction films between 1901 and 1908. Haggar's work received a worldwide audience mainly through the Gaumont and Urban companies. Haggar's most notable film was Desperate Poaching Affray (1903) which is recognised for its violence, iconoclasm and progressive editing. The film, along with Frank Mottorshaw's A Daring Daylight Burglary and Edwin Stanton Porter's The Great Train Robbery, has in the early Twenty-first century, been credited with influencing the chase subgenre of American films.

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