(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CINEMA PARADISO") SALVATORE ... when film was still being played on 20-minute reels. That meant alternating between two side-by-side projectors three times an hour.

(Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) For over a century, the formula for cinema magic remained the same: a trained projectionist, a 35-millimeter film reel and a projector. But now, thousands of feet of celluloid ...

To mark the anniversary, The Independent went behind the scenes to watch the film's reel being loaded into the projector. Madeleine Mullett, the British Film Institute's (BFI) programme manager ...