International film glossary

A glossary of common words and technical terminology used by projectionists and film exhibitors — in many languages.

This glossary is intended to help anyone searching for information about analog film projection and exhibition locate resources in non-English languages. It was created to support keyword searches used in developing the Analog Film Exhibitors Directory.

Disclaimer: This list may contain inaccuracies - Sprocket School editors are mainly native English speakers and are creating it based on internet research, words on film leader and film can labels, and conversations with other projectionists.

• Get in touch if you have a suggestion or correction: info@sprocketschool.org

External Resources

• Oliver Heidelbach’s Online Film Dictionary
• FIAF’s Glossary of Filmographic Terms
• The "Languages" sidebar to the left of every Wikipedia entry (on a desktop computer)

Glossary

Belarusian

• movie theater — Кінатэатр
• projector – проектор

Bulgarian

• celluloid — Целулоѝдът
• cinema – Синема
• movie theater — Киносалон

Albanian

• movie theater / cinema — kino / kinema / bioskopi / filmteatri

Arabic

• 16mm – ١٦ ملم
• 35mm — 35 ملم or ٣٥ ملم
• 70mm – ٧٠ ملم
• celluloid — سيلولويد
• a movie — فيلم
• movies — أفلام
• movie theater / cinema — سينما or صالة سينمائية or just صالة
• screen — شاشة عرض
• theater — مسرح

Cantonese

• a movie — 片 or 電影
• film — 菲林
• projection screen — 投影幕
• theater — 戲院
• projector — 投影機
• projection — 投射

Catalan

• movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema
• screen — pantalla de projecció

Chinese

• 16mm – 16毫米 or 十六 毫米
• 35mm — 35毫米 or sometimes 35釐米 or 三十五 毫米
• 35mm projector – 三十五毫米放映機
• a movie — 电影 or 電影
• celluloid — 賽璐珞
• movie theater — 电影院
• projector – 放映機
• screening – 放映

Croatian

• movie theater — kino

Czech

• celluloid — celuloid
• movie theater — kino
• projector – promítačka
• film (the material; lit. "strip") – pásu

Danish

• celluloid — celluloid
• film projector — filmfremviser
• movie theater — biograf

Dutch

• celluloid — celluloid
• movie theater — bioscoop
• screen — projectiescherm

Estonian

• movie theater — kino

Finnish

• celluloid — selluloidi
• a movie — elokuva
• motion picture film — kinofilmi
• movie theater — elokuvateatteri
• screen — valkokangas

French

• photochemical or analog – argentique
• celluloid — celluloïd
• cue mark — repère de changement de bobine
• projectionist — projectionniste
• reel — bobine
• movie theater / cinema — salle de cinéma / cinéma

Gaelic

• movie theater — pictiúrlann

German

• celluloid — Zelluloid
• changeover — Überblendung
• core (for winding film) — Wickelkern / Bobby
• film projector — Filmprojektor / Laufbildprojektor / Projektor
• frame line — Bildstrich
• movie theater / cinema — Kino
• projectionist — Filmvorführer
• reel — Spule
• print (film) — kopie
• projection booth — Bildwerferraum
• screen — Bildwand
• screen — Leinwand
• screen — Projektionswand
• splicer — Klebepressen

Hausa

• the big screen — babban allon
• cinema — Sinima
• movie — fim
• movies — fina-finan / fina-finai
• movie theaters — gidajen fina-finai
• movie theaters — gidajen sinima

Hebrew

• 35mm – 35 מ"מ
• celluloid — צלולואיד
• film print – עותק פילם
• movie theater — בית קולנוע

Hindi

• 35mm — 35 ​मिमी
• analog — एनालॉग
• archive — पुरालेख
• a movie or film (the material) — फ़िल्म
• movie — चलचित्र
• movie projector — चलचित्र प्रक्षेपित्र or मूवी प्रोजेक्टर
• Bollywood — बॉलीवुड
• cinema — सिनेमा
• celluloid — सेलुलॉइड
• film format — फिल्म प्रारूप
• silent films / silent film — मूक फिल्म / मूक फिल्मों
• theater — थिएटर

Hungarian

• movie theater / cinema — filmszínház
• projection — vetités
• reel — tekercs (plural: tekercset)

Icelandic

• a film or movie – kvikmynd or kvikmyndina
• film – filmu
• movie theater — kvikmyndahús or bíó
• theater – leikhús

Indonesian

• celluloid — seluloid
• movie theater — bioskop
• outdoor film screening (specific Indonesian tradition) — layar tancep
• film print — cetakan
• projector — proyektor
• projectionist — operator projektor
• roll of film — gulungan film
• screen — layar

Italian

• celluloid — celluloide
• cue mark — bollini di sincronizzazione / segnali di coda
• movie theater / cinema — cinema / sala cinematografica
• projectionist — proiezionista

Japanese

• 35mm — 35ミリ
• acetate — アセテート
• analog — アナログ
• anamorphic — アナモフィック
• aperture plate — 開口プレート
• archive — アーカイブ
• aspect ratio — アスペクト比
• celluloid — セルロイド
• mini theater — ミニシアター
• movie — 映画 or 電影
• movie theater / cinema — 映画館
• print – プリント
• projection — 映写
• projectionist — 映写技師
• projector (specifically movie projectors) — 映写機
• projector (more general term) — プロジェクタ
• reel — フィルム一巻 or リール
• screen — スクリーン
• screening – 上映

Javanese

• movie theater — biyoskup

Korean

• celluloid — 셀룰로이드
• a movie — 영화
• movie theater — 영화관
• screen — 스크린
• screening – 상영

Latvian

• movie theater — kinoteātris
• tape (as synonym for film) – lentes

Lithuanian

• cinema — kino / kinui
• film — filmas / filmai / filmo / filmus / filmais / filmų / filmams
• movie theater — kino teatras
• screenings — peržiūrų
• strip (like a strip of film) — juostos or juostų or juostoje or juostomis

Luxembourgish

• movie theater — Kino

Norwegian

• movie theater — kino

Macedonian

• movie theater — Кино

Malay

• movie theater — pawagam / panggung wayang gambar
• screened — ditayangkan

Persian

• 16mm – ۱۶ میلی‌متری
• 35mm – ۳۵ میلی‌متری
• 70mm – ۷۰ میلی‌متری
• acetate – استات
• cinematheque – سینماتک
• cinema – سینمای or سینما
• emulsion – امولسیون
• festival / festivals – جشنواره‌های / جشنواره
• a movie — فیلم
• movies – فیلم‌های or فیلم‌هایی
• movie theater — سینما
• projector – پروژکتور
• screening – نمایش
• tape / tapes (as a synonym for films) – نوارهای / نوار
• theater / theaters – تئاتر / تئاترها

Polish

• celluloid — celuloid
• film print – kopii filmowej
• motion picture film stock — taśma filmowa
• movie theater / cinema — kino
• reels – rolek
• screen — ekran kinowy / ekran projekcyjny
• screening – projekcję / projekcja
• tape (as a synonym for film) – taśmą

Portuguese

• a movie — filme / fita / película
• celluloid — celuloide
• movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema

Romanian

• movie theater — cinematograf / sală de cinema

Russian

• 35mm — 35-мм
• film / films – пленка / плёнки
• a movie / movies — Фильм / фильмы
• celluloid — Целлулоид
• movie theater — Кинотеатр or кинотеатре
• a print / prints — копия / копий
• a screening / screenings – Показ / Показы
• tape / tapes (in the sense of "a reel of film") – лента / лент

Serbian

• movie theater — Биоскоп / кино

Spanish

• analog — analógico
• anamorphic — anamorfico
• celluloid — celuloide
• film (lit. tape) – cinta
• grain — grano
• lens — lente
• a movie — película / film / filme / peli
• movie theater / cinema — sala de proyección / sala de cine / cine
• projection — proyección
• projection booth — cabina de proyección / cabina / caseta
• projectionist — proyeccionista / operador de cine
• projector — proyector
• reel — rollo
• screen — pantalla de proyección

Slovak

Much of this information is from reading inspection forms that came from a Slovak film distributor

• aspect ratio — obrazovy formát / formát obrazového pole
• audio — zvuk
• celluloid — celuloid
• film format — nosič
• film print — filmového materiálu
• inspection — kontrole
• movie theater / cinema — kino
• screening — predstavení
• soundtrack — stopa
• splice — nalepené ukázky
• projection booth — promitací kabina
• projectionist — promítač

Slovenian

• movie theater — kino

Sudanese

• movie theater — bioskop

Swahili

• a movie — filamu
• movie theater — jumba la sinema

Swedish

• aperture plate — bildfönster
• aspect ratio — bildformat
• auditorium — biografsalong, salong
• base side (film) — blanksida
• celluloid — celluloid
• changeover — skifte
• continuous sprockets — matarhjul
• core (for winding film) — bobin
• cue mark — skiftmärke
• emulsion side — emulsionssida
• film projector — filmprojektor, projektor
• focus — skärpa
• frame line — bildskillnadsstreck
• geneva drive — malteserkors
• ghosting — bländarsläp
• inspection — syning
• interlocking — samkörning
• intermittent sprocket — framkastarhjul
• lamphouse — lamphus
• leader — startsladd
• lens — objektiv
• magnetic sound — magnetljud
• masking (at screen) — dukmask
• movie — film
• movie theater / cinema — biograf, bio
• platter system — non-rewind, vinda
• port window — projektionsglugg, projektionsfönster
• print — filmkopia, kopia
• projection booth — maskinrum
• projectionist — biografmaskinist, maskinist
• rectifier — likriktare
• reel — akt
• reel (spool) — filmhjul
• reflector — spegel
• rewind bench — spolbord
• screen — filmduk, duk
• shutter — bländare
• silent film — stumfilm
• sound format — ljudformat
• soundtrack — ljudspår
• splice — skarva
• splicer — skarvapparat
• splicing tape — skarvtejp
• split reel — stickhjul
• subtitles — undertext, text
• (to) thread — ladda
• xenon short-arc lamp — xenon-kolv, xenon-lampa

Tagalog

• auditorium — awditoryum
• a movie — pelikula
• cinema or movies — pelikulang
• film (the material) — pilm
• film projector — aparato ng sine
• movie theater — sinehan / sine
• screened — ipinalabas
• show (a movie) — ipinapakita
• project (a movie) — ipinapalabas
• projector — prodyektor
• silent film — pelikulang tahimik

Tamil

• a movie — திரைப்படம்
• celluloid — செலுலாயிடு

Thai

• 35mm — 35 มิลลิเมตร or 35 มม
• cinema or movie(s) — ภาพยนตร์ or หนัง or ฟิล์ม
• film archive — หอภาพยนตร์
• film system (as in "film projection system") – ระบบฟิล์ม
• movie theater — โรงภาพยนตร
• project – ฉาย

Turkish

• celluloid — selüloit
• movie theater — sinema

Ukrainian

• 35mm — 35 мм
• celluloid — Целулоїд
• movie theater — Кінотеа́тр

Vietnamese

• cinema – chiếu
• a movie — bộ phim
• motion picture film — phim nhựa
• movie theater — rạp chiếu phim
• screen — màn chiếu

Welsh

• movie theater — sinema

Wolof

• movie theater — sinemaa

Yoruba

• cinema — sinima
• movie — filmu

Zulu

• a movie — ifilimu
• movie theater / cinema — ibhayisikobho