At the time of writing, cinema was in its infancy. It was often regarded as a fairground attraction or a derivative of theater, lacking the prestige of painting or music. Canudo, an Italian-French intellectual and founder of the avant-garde magazine Montjoie! , sought to elevate the medium.
Canudo argued that cinema is a "total art" that synthesizes the two main categories of human expression: Manifesto Das Sete Artes Ricciotto Canudo.pdf
"Manifesto das Sete Artes" remains a seminal document in media studies. It provides the philosophical DNA for understanding cinema. Canudo’s primary contribution was identifying the paradox that defines film: it is a medium of (individual frames) that creates the illusion of movement , and a medium of reality (photography) that creates the feeling of dream . By defining cinema as the synthesis of Space and Time, Canudo secured its status as the last and most complete of the arts. At the time of writing, cinema was in its infancy