The following is an overview of the events of 1896 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.

• January – In the United States, the Vitascope film projector is designed by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. Armat begins working with Thomas Edison to manufacture it.
• January 14 – Birt Acres demonstrates his film projector, the Kineopticon, the first in Britain, to the Royal Photographic Society at the Queen's Hall in London. This is the first film show to an audience in the U.K.^[1]
• February 20 – In London:^[2]
  • Robert W. Paul demonstrates his film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph), at the Alhambra Theatre.
  • The Lumière Brothers first project their films in Britain, at the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square.
• April – Edison and Armat's Vitascope is used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City.
• May 14 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia is crowned in Moscow, the first coronation ever recorded in film.
• July 11 – First films screened in Venezuela by Luis Manuel Méndez and Manuel Trujillo Durán at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo.^[3]
• July 26 – "Vitascope Hall" opens on Canal Street, New Orleans, the first business devoted exclusively to showing motion pictures at a fixed location
• September 28 – The Pathé Frères film company is founded.
• October 19 – "Edisonia Hall" in Buffalo, New York, the first building constructed specifically for showing motion pictures.
• November 3 - Marius Sestier films the Melbourne Cup, a major sporting event in Australia.
• In France, magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès begins experimenting with the new motion picture technology, developing early special effect techniques, including stop motion. Films that year included The Devil's Castle, A Nightmare, A Terrible Night.^[4]
• William Selig founds the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago.
• Demeny-Gaumont work on a 60 mm format, first known as Biographe (unperforated), then Chronophotographe (perforated).
• Casimir Sivan and E. Dalphin create a 38 mm format.

• Alice Guy as a director in Les démolisseurs
• May Irwin as an actress in The Kiss (1 April)
• John C. Rice as an actor in The Kiss (1 April)
• Cissy Fitzgerald as an actress in 50 feet of actuality film of Fitzgerald by Edison; presumably elements from the 1894 play The Gaiety Girl
• Robert B. Mantell as an actor in Select Scenes from 'Monbars'

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1896 in film.

• 1896 in film playlist on YouTube
• List of 1896 films at IMDb
• List of 1896 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1896 births at IMDb