The following is an overview of the events of 1897 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.

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• January 1 - The first set of films were shown in the Philippines for the first time using 60 mm Gaumont Chrono-photograph projector at the Salon de Pertierra No. 12 Escolta, Manila. The first film shown was Espectaculo Scientifico and followed by other four movies, namely, Un Homme Au Chapeau (Man with a Hat), Une scène de danse japonnaise (Scene from a Japanese Dance), Les Boxers (The Boxers), and La Place de L' Opéra (The Place L' Opéra).^[1]
• January 28 – The first Venezuelan-made films are screened at the Baralt Theatre in Maracaibo, two locally-made actuality shorts, Un célebre especialista sacando muelas en el gran Hotel Europa and Muchachos bañándose en la laguna de Maracaibo.^[2]
• May 4 – During a film screening at the Charity Bazaar in Paris, a curtain catches on fire from the ether used to fuel the projector lamp. The fire spreads and becomes catastrophic, ultimately resulting in 126 deaths.^[3]
• June 20 – Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession filmed.^[4]
• The American Vitagraph Company is founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in Brooklyn.
• Mitchell and Kenyon go into a film-making partnership at Blackburn in the north of England.^[5]
• Enoch J. Rector develops a 63 mm film format called Veriscope, which films The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight on March 17.
• Thomas Henry Blair develops a 48 mm film format called Viventoscope.

• After The Ball, directed by Georges Méliès. First film to create the illusion of female nudity through a skin looking designed costume
• Baignade dans le torrent, directed by Alice Guy-Blaché
• La Bandera Argentina, believed for a long time to have been the first Argentine film. Now considered lost
• Between Calais and Dover, directed by Georges Méliès. A fictitious sea crossing
• The Bewitched Inn (L'Auberge Ensorcelee), directed by Georges Méliès
• Buffalo Police on Parade, produced by Edison Studios
• The Cabinet of Mephistopheles (aka The Laboratory of Mephistopheles), directed by George Melies.^[6]
• Chicago Police Parade, directed by Louis Lumière
• The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, a documentary directed by Enoch J. Rector. The first film shot in widescreen. At an hour and 40 minutes, it is the first known feature film ever made
• Cupid and Psyche, produced by Edison Studios
• An Hallucinated Alchemist, directed by Georges Méliès. May be the first film to feature stop motion animation in cinema
• Faust and Marguerite, directed by George Melies.^[7]
• The Haunted Castle, directed by George Albert Smith (film pioneer) (British)^[8]
• The Haverstraw Tunnel
• Horses Loading for Klondike, directed by James H. White
• The Hypnotist at Work, directed by Georges Méliès^[9]
• Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde, directed by Peter Elfelt; the first Danish movie sequence ever filmed
• The Last Cartridges, directed by . A dramatised war scene
• Leander Sisters, produced by Edison Studios
• Leaving Jerusalem by Railway, directed by Alexandre Promio and released by the Lumière brothers. May include the first moving camera shot in cinema
• Lurline Baths, produced by Edison Studios
• Making Sausages, directed by George Albert Smith
• The Milker's Mishap, directed by James H. White; it is unknown whether or not this film has survived
• New Pillow Fight, produced by Siegmund Lubin
• Niagara Falls, directed by Louis Lumière
• Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer, directed by George Albert Smith
• On the Roofs, directed by Georges Méliès
• Peeping Tom,a production of the American Mutoscope Company. A comedy
• Prince Ranjitsinhji Practising Batting in the Nets, one of the earliest known films of Cricket
• Salida de la misa de doce de la Iglesia del Pilar de Zaragoza, a short silent film by Eduardo Jimeno, a pioneer of the Spanish cinema. Probably the first film made in Spain by a Spaniard
• Sea Fighting in Greece, directed by Georges Méliès. A dramatised naval war scene
• Seminary Girls, directed by James H. White
• Spanish Bullfight, directed by Louis Lumière
• The Surrender of Tournavos, directed by Georges Méliès. A dramatised war scene
• Sutro Baths, No. 1, produced by Edison Studios
• A Twentieth Century Surgeon, directed by George Melies
• The X-Rays, directed by George Albert Smith. Cited as one of the first examples of special effects by jump cut

• Marshall P. Wilder

• 1897 in film playlist on YouTube
• List of 1897 films at IMDb
• List of 1897 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1897 births at IMDb