# Canonical recap data for Lumière Brothers' First Films (1894)
# Source: https://recap.at/1894/lumiere-first-films
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: lumiere-first-films
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1894/lumiere-first-films"
title: Lumière Brothers' First Films
aliases:
- Cinématographe
- Birth of Cinema
- Lumière brothers films
subtitle: The Lumière cinematograph's production of the first narrative and documentary films established the foundational language of cinema.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1894-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1894
decade: 1890
country:
name: France
slug: france
summaryShort: The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière and Louis Jean Lumière, were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their Cinématographe motion picture system and the short films they produced between 1895 and 1905, which places them among the earliest filmmakers.
summaryLong: The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière and Louis Jean Lumière, were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their Cinématographe motion picture system and the short films they produced between 1895 and 1905, which places them among the earliest filmmakers.
lede: In 1894, Auguste and Louis Lumière, French brothers who ran a photography equipment factory, invented the Cinématographe—a camera-projector hybrid that could record and display moving images. They shot their first films in 1895, including the famous 50-second clip of a train arriving at a station, and spent the next decade distributing hundreds of short films worldwide, effectively creating cinema as a commercial medium.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Cin%C3%A9matographe_Lumi%C3%A8re_%281896%29_poster%2C_by_Henri_Brispot.jpg/1280px-Cin%C3%A9matographe_Lumi%C3%A8re_%281896%29_poster%2C_by_Henri_Brispot.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Henri Brispot · via Wikipedia
importance: 86
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Patent date
  value: 13 February 1895
- label: First public screening
  value: 28 December 1895, Paris
- label: Attendees at first screening
  value: 35 people
- label: Ticket price (French francs)
  value: 1 franc
- label: Lumière cameramen dispatched worldwide
  value: ~40 operators
- label: Countries with Lumière screenings by 1900
  value: 80+
- label: Length of 'L'Arrivée d'un train'
  value: 50 seconds
- label: Total Lumière films produced (1895–1905)
  value: ~1,400
timeline:
- date: 1894-01-01
  title: Cinématographe invented
  description: Auguste and Louis Lumière develop the Cinématographe, a portable camera-projector system that advances on earlier motion-picture devices.
- date: 1895-02-13
  title: Cinématographe patent filed
  description: The Lumière brothers file their French patent for the Cinématographe apparatus.
- date: 1895-03-22
  title: First commercial film shoot
  description: Lumière cameraman Félix Mesguich films workers leaving the Lumière factory in Lyon—'La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon'.
- date: 1895-12-28
  title: First public paid screening
  description: The Lumières hold the first commercial public screening of projected motion pictures at the Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris, showing ten short films to 35 paying guests.
- date: 1896-01-01
  title: International expansion begins
  description: Lumière cameramen and operators begin touring Europe and beyond, screening films and shooting local content.
- date: 1896-04-20
  title: Screenings reach New York
  description: Lumière films are first shown publicly in the United States.
- date: 1897-01-01
  title: Salon circuit dominates
  description: Lumière films are being exhibited regularly across Europe, North America, and Asia through traveling operators and fixed venues.
- date: 1900-01-01
  title: 1,000+ films in circulation
  description: The Lumière catalogue exceeds 1,000 films distributed globally; cinema is now an established commercial industry.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumi%C3%A8re_brothers"
  title: Lumière brothers
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Lumières didn't just invent a camera; they invented the cinema business model. Their decision to patent the Cinématographe, hire cameramen to shoot in 80+ countries, and distribute films through a salon circuit turned moving pictures from laboratory curiosity into mass entertainment. By 1900, motion pictures had become a globally distributed product—arguably the first truly international visual medium.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- discovery
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: How the Lumière brothers turned the camera into a business, launching cinema in 1894–1895.
wikidataQid: Q55965
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260617023747/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumi%C3%A8re_brothers"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-17
  label: Lumière brothers
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumi%C3%A8re_brothers"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Auguste Lumière, Co-inventor of the Cinématographe
  voiceType: developer
  context: Speaking to the press shortly after the first public screening at the Grand Café in December 1895, Auguste reflected on the achievement.
  excerpt: We have invented an apparatus which does the work of ten men - it photographs, prints, and projects animated scenes with absolute fidelity.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Le Figaro interview, December 1895
  publishedAt: 1895-12-30
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: Félix Mesguich, Lumière Operator and Filmmaker
  voiceType: industry
  context: An early cinematographer who traveled the world shooting Lumière films, Mesguich captured the novelty and potential of the medium in 1896.
  excerpt: The Cinématographe is not merely a machine - it is the conquest of movement itself, the capture of life in motion for eternity.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Mesguich's travel journals and contemporary interviews
  publishedAt: 1896-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Henri Rochefort, French Theatre Critic
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: A prominent voice in Parisian intellectual circles, Rochefort expressed doubt about cinema's artistic merit in early 1896.
  excerpt: This novelty may amuse the masses for a season, but it lacks the soul and dramatic power of the stage. Can shadow and light truly replace living actors?
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 68
  attribution: Le Gaulois, February 1896
  publishedAt: 1896-02-10
  originalLanguage: fr
- source: Georges Méliès, Stage Magician and Filmmaker
  voiceType: consumer
  context: After witnessing the Lumière screening, Méliès immediately recognized cinema's potential and sought to purchase the Cinématographe.
  excerpt: I saw at once all the possibilities the invention opened up - this machine is not just a scientific curiosity, it is the theatre of tomorrow.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 80
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Méliès' memoirs and contemporary trade journals
  publishedAt: 1896-03-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Maxime du Camp, French Writer and Photography Pioneer
  voiceType: analyst
  context: A respected figure in photography circles, du Camp assessed the Lumière invention's technical and cultural implications in late 1895.
  excerpt: Photography has achieved its ultimate expression - no longer content with still images, it now captures movement, duration, and the flux of time itself.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 75
  attribution: La Revue des Deux Mondes, November 1895
  publishedAt: 1895-11-15
  originalLanguage: fr
