Colonialism in the cinema has been the subject of many books and essays. Stereotyping, distortion, imagistic mistreatment, assimilationism and caricatural visions of colonies have been practiced in this type of cinema. Before 1960 most colonialism films were made with narratives constructed from the point of view of the colonizing nationals. During the era of colonialism, many European governments funded film projects which involved their overseas colonies; either for instructional purposes for individuals living in colonies or to support colonialism in general. The United States' settler colonialism resulted in the American westward expansion which led to the establishment of the so-called Western genre, which dealt with many colonialist topics; these have been subverted in Revisionist Westerns, which came about during a re-evaluation of the genre in the 1960s.Lahti, Janne. 2017. “Settler Passages: Mobility and Settler Colonial Narratives in Westerns.” Journal of the West 56 (4): 67–77. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hft&AN=128157823&site=eds-live&scope=site .do Carmo Piçarra, Maria, Rosa Cabecinhas, and Teresa Castro. 2016. “Colonial Imaginaries: Propaganda, Militancy and ‘Resistance’ in the Cinema.” Comunicação e Sociedade 29 (2): 17–23.
In June 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a formal written apology to actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather in relation to the management of her appearance on behalf of Marlon Brando to decline an Academy Award. In 1973, Sacheen declined the best actor award on Brando's behalf "...in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry..."
List of colonialism-related films The following is an alphabetical list of films and series that feature or relate to colonialism.