Other Major
Film Categories




Genre Sub-Sections
Film Genres Overview | Main Film Genres | Film Sub-Genres | Other Major Film Categories | Film Sub-Genres Types (and Hybrids)
Best Pictures - Genre Biases | Summary of Top Films by Genre | Top 100 Films by Genre | AFI's Top 10 Film Genres

Other Major Film Categories: There are many other (non-genre) film categories that cross-over many traditional genre film types, such as: animated films, UK films, classic films, family-oriented children's films, cult films, documentary films, serial films, sexual/erotic films, and silent films.

(See examples below.)




Other Major Film Categories
Other Major
Film Categories

(represented by icons)
Descriptions of
Other Major Film Categories
Select an icon or film category below, read about its development and history, and view chronological lists of selected, representative greatest films for each one (with links to detailed descriptions of individual films).
Animated Films
Animations are not a strictly-defined genre category, but rather a film technique or medium, although they often contain genre-like elements. This section presents an historical overview of these kinds of films, noted for frame-by-frame creation. Also includes the following animation types: traditional hand-drawn, rotoscoping (stylized animation by tracing over live-action footage), stop-motion puppetry (including claymation (use of clay objects) or cut-outs), combined live-action and animation (e.g., Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)), anime (a style of animation with its roots in Japanese comic books, usually adult-oriented sci-fi and fantasy) or more recently 2D and 3D CGI (computer-generated animation). See Pixar-Disney Animations in-depth information. Animated films are often considered kids or family-oriented films, although they may be enjoyed by all ages. See also Film Milestones in Visual and Special Effects.
British-UK Films
A short section designed as a tribute to various memorable British (UK Films) with a link to the 100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century.
Childrens/Family Films
These are non-offensive, wholesome, and entertaining films (usually rated G for 'suitable for general audiences') that do not include topics or scenes with violence, foul language and other profanity, religious issues, gratuitous sexuality and so on, and are specifically designed for children 12 and under (or for family viewing). Children's and family-oriented films may actually be suitable for all age groups, and cover a wide range of genre categories (comedy, adventure, fantasy, musicals, etc.). Classic films from Hollywood's 'Golden Era' may be very appropriate for this type of film audience. See a listing of 100 Recommended Children's Movies.
Classic Films
This 'classic films' category, not a film genre, identifies many films from Hollywood's distinguished Golden Era and other 'classics' that have held up over time.
Cult Films
Not a specific genre in itself, since cult films can be science fiction, horror, etc. Cult films have limited but special appeal, and are usually strange, quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, or surreal, with outrageous and cartoony characters or plots, garish sets - and often considered controversial. Includes various camp films, B-movies (low-budget, with little-known actors and rough scripts), or other trashy or sleazy selections. Also included in this section is the listing of Entertainment Weekly's choices for Top 50 Cult Movies.
Documentary Films
Documentary FilmsStrictly speaking, documentary films are non-fictional, factual works of art. Originally, the earliest documentaries were either short newsreels, instructional pictures, or travelogues (termed actualities) without any creative story-telling or staging. But they have branched out and taken many forms, and have sometimes become propagandistic and non-objective. Mockumentaries are comedic parodies of documentaries. Some documentaries have been considered propagandistic.
Serial Films
One of the earliest forms of film that originated during the silent era and lasted to the 1950s, often episodic in form, that were shown over a period of weeks or years. Included attractive heroines, action heroes, comic-book characters, western figures, and villains in melodramatic sequences that often ended with a cliffhanger.
Sexual - Erotic Films
A hybrid category of sexual/erotic films that focus on themes with either suggestive, erotic or sensual scenes or subjects, sometimes with depictions of human nudity and lovemaking, but not always of an extremely explicit, gratuitous or pornographic nature. A mini-history of Sex in Cinema is included in this category. This category may include films often directed at teen audiences, with gross-out sexual subjects. Also see this site's History of Sex in Cinema: Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes, 50 Sexiest Films of All-Time, and Sexy Hollywood Bombshells.
Silent Films
Films that have no synchronized soundtrack and no spoken dialogue, until the dawn of the talkies in the late 1920s. Films without dialogue featured titles for dialogue segments, and often were accompanied by live music. For additional information on the silent era, see Film History sections: the Pre-20s and the Decade of the 1920s.

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