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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Enchanting Kinora: Domesticating Moving Images in Edwardian Britain

The Enchanting Kinora: Domesticating Moving Images in Edwardian Britain

Evans, Elizabeth
Chapman, Llewella

Paperback

Series: Audio-Visual Media and Archives: Histories, Theories and Practices

Film StudiesGeneral SociologyBritish History

ISBN10: 1839026936
ISBN13: 9781839026935
Publisher: British Film Institute
Published: Sep 17 2026
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.53 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

Marketed as more affordable and safer than film cameras, the Kinora system, launched in 1903, was one of the first amateur filmmaking devices and represents one of the earliest attempts to create a domestic market for moving images.

In The Enchanting Kinora, Elizabeth Evans examines the Kinora in its technological, industrial and socio-cultural context to explore how early attempts to domesticate moving images were configured. She closely analyses 84 previously unexamined Kinora reels, filmed using the early motion picture device between 1908-1913 and held by the Smedley Collection. These include 23 reels that were produced for public consumption and others that were meant solely for private viewing by the Smedley family. She goes on to consider the reels as material objects, examining not only their content, but also how the collection was preserved and catalogued by members of the family. Finally, she reflects on her own connection to the reels as the Smedleys' great-granddaughter.

In doing so, Evans expands our understanding of moving images' emergence as part of a wider network of cultural practices in Edwardian Britain that featured within domestic as well as public and professional spaces.

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