Christian Films

Though not really in any way modern films, Magic Lantern presentations occurred in Europe as early as 1680, when slide projector shows were produced to enthusiastic audience reception. Athanasius Kircher, a Roman Catholic priest, in 680 published Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae about the technique.

The slide shows were adopted by many missionaries, evangelists, and temperance groups who began to switch to short films around the close of the Nineteenth Century. Between 1897-1898 there are at least four Passion Plays known to have been filmed. Some of the earliest Christian films were The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1897 or 1989), Passion Play: Baptism of Jesus (1903), La passion du Christ (1897), La vie et la passion du Jesus-Christ (1897), La vie du Christ (1899), and La vie et la passion du Christ (1906).

The first American feature film was a Christian film, From the Manger to the Cross (1912), a silent film directed by Sidney Olcott. Though you've never heard of him he directed 135 films. Jesus was portrayed by Robert Henderson-Bland and the young Jesus by Percy Dyer.