The
cinema of Thailand dates back to the
early days of filmmaking, when
King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to
Bern,
Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to
Bangkok, where it was exhibited. This sparked more interest in film by the
Thai Royal Family and local businessmen, who brought in filmmaking equipment and started to exhibit foreign films. By the 1920s, a local film industry was started and in the 1930s, the
Thai film industry had its first "golden age", with a number of studios producing films.