1927
Dalian, China
9.5mm
"Regarding the history of amateur cinema in Manchuria, different sources provide slightly different accounts, but if Arase’s writing is correct, the first 9.5mm club in Manchuria was named Manshū Patē Kinema Kurabu, which was established with the backing of a few individuals in the region, including a man named Asada from a local camera store, Kashimura Yōkō, and a person named Akiyama of Shoryu Bank. Manshū Patē Kinema Kurabu sponsored its first film shooting event in the summer of either 1927 or 1928 in Hoshigaura, Manchria, which attracted about 30 participants.... The community of Pathé Baby users spread across Manchuria over the next several years, and multiple other amateur cine clubs were established in the area." - Noriko Morisue, "Filming the Everyday: History, Theory, and Aesthetics of Amateur Cinema in Interwar and Wartime Japan" (Yale University: PhD Dissertation, 2020): 34-35.
Amateur Cinema