{{Verification|date=September 2022}} {{short description|German silent film company}} {{For|the Hungarian company|Mester Film}} '''Messter Film''' was a German [[film production]] company which operated during the [[silent era]]. It was founded by the German film pioneer [[Oskar Messter]] who already owned a chain of cinemas.<ref>Hardt p.12</ref> It was based in [[Berlin]] which had emerged as the centre of the German film industry. Messter quickly established itself as dominant force in German production, particularly during the boom years of the [[First World War]] when foreign films faced many restrictions in Germany. Messter played a prominent role in the development of the German [[feature film]], moving away from the [[short film|shorter running times]] which had been standard in the early years of cinema. Messter also produced its own [[newsreels]].
In 1909 Messter Film took part in the [[Paris Film Congress]], a failed attempt by Europe's leading producers to create a film [[cartel]] similar to that formed by the [[Motion Picture Patents Company|MPPC]] in the United States.<ref>Thorsen p.71</ref>
In 1917 the company became part of the large [[conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]] [[Universum Film AG]] (UFA) which brought together many of the leading German companies in a single, powerful organisation. For several years after this Messter continued to produce films as an individual unit of the UFA umbrella. UFA took over Messter's associated [[film distributor|distribution]] partner '''Hansa Film'''.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Bergfelder, Tim & Bock, Hans-Michael. ''The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopedia of German''. Berghahn Books, 2009. * Hardt, Ursula. ''From Caligari to California: Erich Pommer's Life in the International Film Wars''. Berghahn Books, 1996. * Thorsen, Isak. ''Nordisk Films Kompagni 1906-1924, Volume 5: The Rise and Fall of the Polar Bear''. Indiana University Press, 2017. * Prawer, S.S. ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933''. Berghahn Books, 2005.
{{Authority control}} [[Category:German film studios]] [[Category:Film production companies of Germany]] [[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1917]] [[Category:Mass media in Berlin]] [[Category:Mass media companies established in 1897]] [[Category:1917 disestablishments in Germany]] [[Category:1917 mergers and acquisitions]] [[Category:German companies established in 1897]] [[Category:Film production companies established in the 1890s]]
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