A film enthusiast or ardent admirer of cinema; someone who appreciates films as art and studies them seriously.
From French 'cinéaste' (early 20th century), combining 'cinéma' with the suffix '-aste' (devotee, enthusiast). The term reflects French intellectual culture's embrace of film as a legitimate art form.
The existence of both 'cineast' and 'cineaste' (the anglicized vs. French spelling) shows how cinema was genuinely cosmopolitan—film culture transcended national borders in ways other arts didn't.
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