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1953

Albania

– Velikiy Voin Albanii Skanderbeg (The Great Albanian Warrior Skanderbeg), a Soviet co-production, is the first film to be produced in Albania. [MORE] [ADD]

Angola

– Velhos Tempos, Novos Tempos (Old Times, New Times), a short documentary made by Asdrubal Rebelo da Silva, is the first film produced in Angola. [MORE] [ADD]

Australia

– The government abolishes entertainments tax.  [MORE] [ADD]

Benin

– The country’s first film, a short documentary entitled Lumière des homes, is released.  [MORE] [ADD]

Botswana

– Louis Knobel, an employee of South African Information Services, makes a 17-minute film about the Kalahari bushmen called Remnants of a Dying Race. [MORE] [ADD]

Denmark

– Cinema admissions reach an all-time high of 59 million in 1953.  [MORE] [ADD]

Dominican Republic

– Rafael Augusto Sánchez Sanlley is imprisoned and tortured by the government for his series of 13 films about the 13 ministries of the government, which showed the poverty and starvation that was prevalent in the country. [MORE] [ADD]

Guinea

– Mamadou Touré’s Mouramani, the first film to be produced in Guinea, is released. [MORE] [ADD]

Hong Kong

– The Asia Film Company is founded.  [MORE] [ADD]

India

– Sohrab Modi’s Jhansi Ki Rani (The Queen of Jhansi), the first Indian film shot in Technicolor, is released in both Indian and English-language versions. [MORE] [ADD]

– Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen gets recognition at the Cannes Film Festival and wins the Social Progress Award at Karlovy Vary. [MORE] [ADD]

– Changes in censorship laws mean that films must be re-certified every five years, and that a copy or script of each film must be deposited with the Censorship Board.  [MORE] [ADD]

– Prabhat Studios ceases production.  [MORE] [ADD]

– An amendment to the Cinematograph Act enables authorities to suspend exhibition of certified films. [MORE] [ADD]

– The weekly industry journal Trade Guide is published for the first time.  [MORE] [ADD]

– The Maiden Filmfare Awards are awarded for the first time.  [MORE] [ADD]

Italy

7/9 -

American actress Lana Turner marries her fourth husband, former screen Tarzan Lex Barker, in Turin. [MORE] [ADD]

4/12 -

Roberto Rossellini’s Europa 51, his second collaboration with Ingrid Bergman is released.   Alexander Knox and Giulietta Masina also star. [MORE] [ADD]

Japan

26/3 -

Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon After Rain), is released.  The story, in which a poor porter is bewitched by a ghost, is an amalgamation of two 18^th-century ghost stories by Akinari Veda and one by Guy de Maupassant. [MORE] [ADD]

Macedonia

– Vardar Film produces 20 documentary films in 1953.  [MORE] [ADD]

– The country’s first advertising films are produced.  [MORE] [ADD]

Malta

– Single-Handed, a British film directed by Roy Boulting, is partly shot on location on Gozo Island, making it the first film to be shot in Malta. [MORE] [ADD]

Mexico

3/4 -

Actor Gérard Philipe arrives in Alvaro to begin filming Yves Allégret's Les Orgueilleux (The Proud Ones) with Michele Morgan. [MORE] [ADD]

Pakistan

– The East Bengal Provincial Govt establishes a film division under the Public Relations Division. [MORE] [ADD]

Philippines

18/11 -

The Federation of Motion Picture Producers in South East Asia is founded.   Member countries are Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. [MORE] [ADD]

Sweden

9/2 -

Ingmar Bergman’s Sommaren med Monika (Summer with Monika) is released.   Harriet Andersson and Lars Ekborg star as a young couple enjoying an idyllic affair during a summer holiday. [MORE] [ADD]

14/9 -

Ingmar Bergman's Gycklarnas Afton (Sawdust and Tinsel) is released.   After the somewhat lighter atmosphere of his Sommaren med Monika, this marks a return to more gloomy fare from Bergman as Ake Gröberg and Harriet Andersson star in a tale set in a rundown travelling circus. [MORE] [ADD]

– CinemaScope comes to Sweden when The Robe is shown at the Rigoletto Cinema.  [MORE] [ADD]

Switzerland

23/8 -

Charlie and Oona Chaplin’s fifth child, a boy they name Eugene, is born at Corsier-sur-Vevey.  Chaplin had recently relinquished his US re-entry permit after becoming the subject of government and media speculation regarding his political leanings. [MORE] [ADD]

– The Rex Cinema in Munich installs CinemaScope.  [MORE] [ADD]

Vietnam

15/3 -

President Ho Chi Minh marks the official birth of the Vietnamese cinema when he signs the 147/SL Decree to establish the Vietnam Movie and Photography Enterprise. [MORE] [ADD]