On this day in 1895, Parisians were introduced to the first commercial movie screening of a film by brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière. The early days of filmmaking were highly competitive, but the work of the Lumière Brothers paved the way for worldwide adoption.
Louis Lumière invented the Cinematographe, a combination of a camera and projector. It was patented in 1895 and could display moving images on a screen. This invention is what made public viewing possible. Their first film, La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory), ran for 46 seconds and was showcased during the public launch of the Cinematographe on March 22, 1895.
Watch the Lumière brothers’ first short movie below:
