125th Anniversary of the First Film Screening

In the evening of 4 October 1896, the first film screening in Estonia took place in the Great Guild Hall. In the small hall of what has then known as the Stock Exchange, the people of Tallinn were able to enjoy the new technological miracle – cinema – for the price of 50 kopeks. The programme consisted of ten pieces, about one minute each. Even though the apparatus received criticism for the weak lighting and the severe shakiness of the moving pictures, the programme was screened in the Stock Exchange for another 13 days to great public acclaim. Then, the programme travelled to Tartu. Premières of films first took place in travelling cinemas all across Estonia, but the first permanent cinema was opened in Tartu in 1908.

The postage stamp depicts a frame from the film Apothecary Melchior, premièring in autumn 2021, which is Estonia’s most extensive film project of all time.