Greek Film Industry (1896-1939): Economic Structure and Representation * Manolis Arkolakis Introduction We could consider the period between approximately the end of the 1950s and 1972 to have been the most prolific of Greek cinema. The number of films produced, in relation to the country’s population, was, during that time, the highest in Europe. In 1967, for example, 154 films were made in Greece, whilst the population was 9 million. The delayed introduction of television has certainly been a decisive factor for the dynamic, and free from competition, development of the Greek film industry in the 1960s. The first T.V. channel was set up in 1966 and only covered a very small area around Athens, whilst the mass expansion of television came later, during the early 1970s. The dominant position of television brought about the total collapse of the film industry, exposing its problematic structure. In 1975, under a new legislation, the state started funding film production through a new institution, Greek Film Centre. Producers and directors could, for the first time, work without the fear of censorship while annual film awards brought a considerable amount of money. Despite all that, the film industry constantly fails to recover. The success of a few films made during the late 1990s has more to do with the influence of television than to a dynamic come back. In order to understand the development of the film industry from the 1950s onwards and its current problematic state, it is necessary to examine those first steps of Greek cinema, its prehistory if you like, the attempts of some pioneers to work under conditions which would (*) Presented in the Symposium EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: NATIONAL HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND EUROPEAN OSMOSIS; NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES (organized by National Bank of Greece and Hellenic Open University, Athens, 28/11/2003). [Final version for publishing in a book with the same title and edited by MARGARITA DRITSAS, CHRISTOPHER P. KOBRAK, GERASIMOS NOTARAS] 1