The Lumière Brothers (Louis and Auguste) invented cinema -- or at least the cinématographe, a combination motion picture camera/printer/projector from which cinema gained its name. From 1895 to 1905 the Lumières used this simple, elegant machine to film the world. The resulting pictures convey a breathtaking immediacy and are as striking today as they were in the mid-1890s. Thierry Fremaux, director of the Institut Lumière in Lyon, France, has judiciously selected 85 films from the approximately 1500 Lumière subjects that survive. Bertrand Tavernier, France's most versatile and consistently interesting filmmaker provides a playful, admiring and finally insightful English-language commentary. He proves the perfect guide for this journey through the period of discovery and wonder at cinema's new possibilities.

This program consists of 85 short subjects (each less than a minute, typically consisting of a single shot), made between 1895 and 1900. It begins with the Lumières' first film, LEAVING THE FACTORY (taken 19 March 1895), and includes their two subsequent remakes (the first time all three versions are available on video or laserdisc). Other films
shown at the first public commercial screening on 28 December 1895 include: A SPRINKLER SPRINKLED (aka THE GARDENER and THE BAD BOY) BABY'S MEAL, ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT LE CIOTAT.

The remaining 75 selections are grouped together by subject matter and genre. Six films show the city of Lyon where the Lumières lived and operated their factories (TROLLEY COMING TOWARD CAMERA, STREET SCENE BY DAY). Others show the French at work (WORKSHOP AT LA CIOTAT, WASHERWOMEN ON THE RIVER) and at play (BICYCLIST, THE SACK RACE). Unlike Thomas Edison's cameramen, who shot most of their early subjects against a black background as a way to isolate and focus attention on the bodies of performers, the Lumières were fascinated by landscapes and the milieu in which everyday activities unfold. They also possessed a fine appreciation of the comic and the absurd, as Fremaux's selection of comedies and gag films reveal (GROTESQUE SAWYER, MATTRESS MAKERS' QUARREL).

As these films demonstrate the Lumières embraced the cinematic, employing reverse motion (DEMOLITION OF A WALL), and more generally by moving the camera through space in ways that provide unexpected viewpoints (VIEW FROM A WORKING WHALER, INDOCHINA: NAMO VILLAGE -- PANORAMA TAKEN FROM CARRYING CHAIR). Although films of children (BABY'S FIRST STEPS, CHILDREN PLAYING MARBLES) proved consistent favorites in commercial theatres, this popular genre started out as little more than home movies for the Lumière family. Yet the inventors' cameras aggressively engaged the world beyond their front door: Belfast, Berlin, Seville, New York, Jerusalem, Algiers, Vietnam, Japan. By 1897, the Lumières had shot on every continent but Antarctica. Through strong compositions, discreet stagings and timely shooting, these cinematographers captured an array of memorable scenes, most of which will be unfamiliar to even the most well-versed devotee of early cinema.

-- Charles Musser
Author of BEFORE THE NICKELODEON and THE EMERGENCE OF CINEMA