In the U.S., women are allowed to vote for the first time.

Lev Kuleshov's Soviet State Film School workshop conducts experiments on film space and time.

Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a foundation work of German Expression.

Formation of Shochiku studio in Japan.

After the death of Ernst Leitz I, his son, Ernst Leitz II, takes over the management of the company.

Soviet silent era filmmaker, Dziga Vertov, now acknowledged as the father of cinema-verite (realistic documentary movement of the 1960s - 70s), produces a series of newsreel-documentaries.

Murder trial of film comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and drug-addicted death of Wallace Reid are part of a cycle of scandals that increase public demands for greater industry regulation.

American photographer James Van Der Zee creates memorable portraits of African-Americans.

German Tri-Ergon process is developed, whose flywheel mechanism is essential to the continuous reproduction of optical sound.

Edward Steichen becomes chief photographer for the fashion magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair. His well known portraits include the veiled Gloria Swanson, the hands-to-head image of Greta Garbo, and the smiling Charlie Chaplin.

American artist Man Ray creates the Rayogram, a collage of objects placed onto photographic paper and exposed to light.

Soviet cinema is influential for its strategies of montage, graphic approach to the film frame, "biomechanical" acting, and political use of the motion picture medium.

French Impressionism is founded, a movement predicated on the belief that cinema is an artform of personal expression.

First transatlantic telephoto transmission is made between Annapolis, Md., and Belin's laboratories at La Malmaison, Fr.

Man Ray produces rayographs/photograms by placing objects over light-sensitive emulsions and exposing to light.

The Osaka Industrial Material Testing Laboratory (Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce) starts research on optical glass melting. Optical glass had been imported from Germany, France, and England.

Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K., forerunner of Nikon, hires eight German engineers and scientists on a 5-year contract. They work on optical design, product design, and lens and prism grinding and polishing.

29th of July, Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist 'Nazi' Party.

Founding of the Mingxing Film Company in Shanghai, the center of Chinese film production.

Will H. Hays, former Postmaster General for President Harding, is appointed head of the newly created Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), a self-regulatory organization comprised of industry leaders.

Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North, a point of reference for nonfiction and popular adventure filmmakers to follow.

Successful subtractive process for two-color film introduced by Herbert Kalmus' Technicolor Corporation. Uses a special camera and procedure to produce two separate positive prints that are then cemented together for a single print.

Vladimir Zworykin patents television picture tube.

First radio network is established by AT&T.

Kodak introduces 16mm movie film for amateur use.

Pola Negri and Ernst Lubitsch are wooed by American studios following the success of Madame Dubarry; starting a regular flow of European talent to Hollywood.

The Great Kanto Earthquake strikes on Sept. 1, destroying many valuable photographs and negatives in photo studios and stores in the Tokyo and Yokohama areas.

F. W. Murnau's The Last Laugh, notable for its innovative use of camera movement, subjective point-of-view shots, and optical effects.

Erich von Stroheim's naturalistic epic Greed is mutilated by studio interference.

Ernst Leitz II, mass-produces the "Ur-Leica" camera that was constructed by Oskar Barnack in 1914. The number of employees in the factory rises to 1,000.

RCA patents their sound-on-film system RCA Photophone.

Western Electric, the manufacturing subsidiary of AT&T, perfects a sound-on-disc system called Vitaphone.

"Little cinema" movement begins with the establishment of the Screen Guild in New York, a group dedicated to screening experimental works and films of historical and aesthetic significance.

Hungarian André Kertész moves to Paris to begin a project photographing Parisian street life.

Sergei Eisenstein's Potemkin, a powerful film retelling of the 1905 Russian Revolution.

At the spring fair in Leipzig, the Leica camera is presented to the public for the first time.

In June, Konishiroku Honten Co. introduces the Pearlette camera, an imitation of the highly successful Vest Pocket Kodak.

Fritz Lang's futuristic silent film Metropolis, a triumph of production design.

Following the completion of Son of the Sheik, Rudolph Valentino dies at 31 and is mourned by millions.

Warner Bros. debuts Vitaphone to the public with a series of demonstration shorts and the feature film Don Juan.

Box office success of The Jazz Singer sets film industries worldwide on the course of sound film production.

Bell Laboratories perform the first mechanical television transmission in United States.

Abel Gance's Napoléon is partially filmed in Polyvision and utilizes triptych sequences to produce wide and multiscreen effects.

The Production Code of America, a self-regulatory code of ethics setting forth standards of good taste and specific "Don'ts and Be Carefuls," is created by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) under Will H. Hays.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded by industry leaders in response to mounting labor unrest in Hollywood.

First Laurel and Hardy film Leave 'Em Laughing.

Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a City captures the kaleidoscopic movements of urban life.

General Electric invents the modern flashbulb.

RCA enters into film production by forming Radio-Keith-Orpheum and Warner Bros. takes over First National Pictures. With 20th Century-Fox, they join Loews and Paramount to form the "big five," controlling the film industry for the next 30 years.

Albert Renger-Patzsch's The World is Beautiful reveals the beauty of both man-made and natural creations.

Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, is shot in France with massive technical and financial resources.

Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, starring Mickey Mouse, the first animated cartoon designed for synchronized sound.

Kodak introduces 16mm lenticular KODACOLOR Film for making motion pictures in color.

Technicolor introduces an imbibition or dye-transfer process for two-color films.

The Rollei Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex rollfilm camera is introduced.

Tashima Kazuo establishes the Nichi-Doku Shashin Shokai company, the forerunner of Minolta Camera Co.

Through Omiya Shashin Yohin, Asahi Shashin Kogyo markets Japan's first film, "Kiku Film." It is a Vest medium-format film.

Dziga Vertov's The Man with a Movie Camera, is a film essay on the vicissitudes of perceptual reality.

Film and Foto exhibition that synthesized modernism in photography is held in Stuttgart.

The Academy Awards are presented for the first time, with the Best Picture honor going to Wings.

Motion picture cameras are standardized to run at a speed of 24 frames per second to ensure consistent sound synchronization.

Postsynchronization is used by King Vidor in Hallelujah.

The New York stock market crash begins the Great Depression.