The first cycle of amateur cinema - from filming to screening allows us to investigate aspects of the social context in which this kind of cinema is developed, its narrative values, its aesthetic parameters and its technicals constraints. The objective of this work is to establish and analyze the dimensions of this first cycle, along with conceptually delimiting non-professional film productions as legitimate forms of cinema. To this end, manuals for amateur filmmakers and the reflection of different authors about film as a technical and artistic manifestation have been reviewed. It has been investigated, in addition, in the mechanical conditions that govern and model the making of amateur cinema, imposing particular requirements that are defining this type of cinematography. Along with registering amateur cinema as an integral part of the phenomenon of cinema in general, recognizing its particular elements, this article fixes its interest in the ritual aspects of this first cycle, with special attention to the projection of the filmed material and its promise of restitution of the moving image.