Edinburgh – Filmhouse
November 25, 2026 @ 18:00
The documentary chronicles the history and genesis of early motion pictures by weaving together over 100 beautifully restored 50-second silent films shot by the Lumière brothers.
In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years.
Institut Lumière director Thierry Frémaux (and also director of the Cannes Film Festival) uses Lumière, le cinema! to guide the viewer through more than 100 shorts – some famous, some forgotten, some never seen – directed by Lumière and company.
"Glorious (re)telling of the genesis of cinema … a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured - and the mysterious world imagined - by the Lumières."
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