Cinema of Megelan

the history of the cinema of Megelan dates back to the 1900s; today, the Megelanese film industry is the third biggest such industry in Tyran, after those of Delkora and Gylias. As of 2020, the highest grossing Megelanese film of all time is The Leopard (1963) by Giuseppe Erba; since 1946, a film festival has been held every August in the town of Leocarno.

History

Early years (1900s-1940s)

The first Megelanese movies were documentaries, filmed in a few seconds, in which their directors would record facts and people of their times with a simple crank-operated camera. During the period between 1903 and 1909 the cinema, seen until then as a circus act belonging to traveling shows, became an industry of its own, with the Francioli production company, the first in the Community, being founded near Alba in 1909.

At first, the industry's output typically consisted of adaptations of books or stage plays; during the 1910s however, a new genre, the diva film, took shape: based on stories of intrigue and passion, featuring extravagant costumes and luxurious sets, and portrayed by larger-than-life actresses whose over-the-top exploits on the silver screen were rivaled by their over-the-top exploits in real life, the diva film can be considered a spiritual successor of literary Decadentism and theatrical melodrama.

Between 1911 and 1919, Megelan was home to the first avant-garde movement in cinema, inspired by the country's Futurist movement: to the Futurists, cinema was an ideal art form, being a fresh medium, able to be manipulated by speed, special effects and editing. Characterized by sets featuring geometric shapes and painted scenes that often interacted with the characters, futurist film took viewers into a world of illusions where it was difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

While early futurist film adopted many of the conventions and tropes typical of the genres that preceded it, Futurist directors eventually developed a preference for settings and situations in line with their pursuit of the concept of speed: epics of the hunt, travel, and war on one hand, and the chases, races and tumbles typical of the era's short, silent comedy movies on the other hand.

As the Megelanese Civil War broke out, these turned into the only genres able to fly under the radar of Futurist censorship and, as a result, Megelanese cinema in those areas held by Futurist forces was dominated by light comedies and propaganda films, that were not able to do anything against rising foreign competition; because of this, the country's film industry struggled for decades.

During the 1930s and 1940s, as the struggling Futurist regime had become less ideologically driven and more concerned with keeping itself in power, these genres gave way to a kind of light comedy, the so-called white telephones genre, that promoted conservative values and respect for authority; however, in order to talk about subjects that were unthinkable in Futurist Megelan, quite a few directors chose to set their movies in Alscia, Cacerta or Delkora.

Post-war era (1940s-1950s)

Post-Civil War Megelan saw the rise of the influential Megelanese neorealist movement: shot on location and utilizing non-professional actors, neorealist films tried to describe the difficult economic and moral conditions of post-war Megelan, as well as changes in public mentality in everyday life. In spite of the success that the neorealist genre obtained, sometimes more from the critics than the public, its heyday only lasted a dozen years.

Another genre characteristic of post-war Megelan, one that found success more from the public than the critics, was the homeland film: easily identifiable by how they always involved the outdoors, a sentimental tone and a simplistic morality, and how they centered on love, friendship, family and non-urban life, they evoked feelings of nostalgia for an idealized Megelan of the past. Their accidental resemblance to Gylian slice of life works, however, ensured their overseas success, a success that eventually lead to the reevaluation of the homeland film in Megelan itself.

Coherently with the improving conditions of the country, the neorealist genre eventually veered towards lighter atmospheres, allowing for the success of several actresses of generous proportions, both in Megelan and, again, in Gylias - this detail did not escape the eyes of the critics, that often quipped about how the success of any given Megelanese film abroad was often directly proportional to its female lead's bust size.

Economic miracle (1950s-1970s)

The accession of Megelan into the Common Sphere was the prelude to a period of dramatic economic development in the Community; so, the earlier pink neorealism gave way to works - auteur films on one hand, and comedy movies on the other hand - with a strong focus on the various social issues of the period; even the aforementioned comedy movies were often characterized by a substantial background of sadness and social criticism that diluted the comic contents, as several directors felt that the pervasive influence of the mass media and consumerism on the new Megelan was driving people towards homogenization and cultural decay.

This period was also a golden age of Megelanese genre film: at first, the success of the science fiction magazine Caelia paved the way for a trend consisting of adaptations of the stories collected in it, with short stories turning into television series, and full length novels turning into movies; later on, the polenta western was born, a genre that used many of the conventions typical of the western genre to tell stories set in Megelan - either in the distant past of the country, or in the recent past, that of the apocalyptic, barren, desolate fields of post-Futurist Megelan, ravaged by the consequences of the extensive use of chemical weapons during the Civil War.

Years of Lead (1960s-1980s)

As the country's post-Civil War consensus began to fall apart, with outlaw and terrorist groups clashing against each other and the state as a whole, events that were deliberately orchestrated by several personalities in the country that were opposed to the course the Community had been set on by the Common Sphere under the tenure of Gina Campanelli, and that would eventually culminate in the neoliberal conspiracy, Megelanese cinema took on a darker tone.

Megelanese cinema became internationally synonymous with violent horror films, and several countries charged the Community's studios with exceeding the boundaries of acceptability; in this era, Megelanese directors also authored films that reflected the Community's socio-political turmoil and increasing crime rates, featuring graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels, obtaining a great level of success.

On a lighter note, the cultural influence of Groovy Gylias ensured the success of spy flicks that, rather than presenting espionage as it was practiced in reality, glamorized the craft through a focus on high-tech equipment, agencies and organizations with nearly limitless resources and incredibly high-stakes adventures that revolved around defeating a superpower or singular enemy from achieving a nefarious aim, typically world domination.

Decline (1980s-2000s)

Between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, Megelanese cinema fell into a crisis; art films became increasingly isolated and separated from mainstream Megelanese cinema, as mainstream Megelanese cinema became the domain of bawdy comedies and humorous erotic films with ample slapstick elements. These pictures, of little artistic value, were nonetheless very popular with audiences.

This creative crisis of Megelanese cinema pervaded the following decade as well, due to the economic shock caused in the Community by the reveal of the neoliberal conspiracy and the prosecution of the chief personalities behind it; between 1992 and 1994, the earnings generated by Megelanese movies made up only 15% of the overall profits of the industry in Megelan, with Delkoran and Gylian films boasting far higher numbers all over the country.

It was only at the end of the 20th century - as fledgling companies and local guilds supported young directors and introduced good business practices into the industry - that glossy blockbusters and creative genre films began to be produced in Megelan again, and exported abroad; however, due to the various constraints of the post-neoliberal conspiracy environment, the Megelanese film industry gained a not undeserved reputation for releasing a few unique movies a year, and next to nothing else worth watching.

The new millennium (2000s-Present)

With the coming of the new millennium, the Megelanese film industry partially regained its old reputation and stability, as the new generation of directors grew in experience and skill, reinterpreting and updating old auteur film tropes for contemporary audiences and the modern world, with a new generation of actors by their side.

Genre film experiences a partial renaissance of its own, with old genres being reinterpreted and updated, and new genres being tested and tried. Today, Megelanese movies are, more often than not, produced by small production companies, often in co-production with other countries, chiefly Cacerta and Gylias.

Notable personalities

Actors

Eleonora Cappelletto (1858-1924)
Gildo O'Hara (1922-1990)
Greta Carsaniga (1960-Present)
Jane Talia Ambrosio (1878-1954)
Loredana Roxburgh (1977-Present)
Lucia Borloni (1931-2020)
Mario Bianchi (1933-1994)
Stefania Harper (1948-Present)

Directors

Arnaldo Mazzocchi (1916-2008)
Benito Furlan (1869-1930)
Claudio Goretti (1929-2019)
Ermanno Detto (1931-2018)
Gaio Valerio Giordano (1950-Present)
Giuseppe Andreani (1886-1959)
Giuseppe Erba (1906-1976)
Renato Franceschini (1948-2015)