Credit: DH Photo
The year 2025 marks the 130th anniversary of the Lumière brothers’ first public showcase of their Cinématographe on December 28, 1895, in Paris. They showed 10 short films. To commemorate the occasion, Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival and Institut Lumière released the documentary film ‘Lumière! The Adventure Continues’ in March.
The documentary is both a celebration and revelation of cinema’s origins. It offers audiences a rare chance to witness the artistry of the Lumière Brothers and their collaborators — the visionaries who first turned light into motion. Though often remembered as inventors of the Cinématographe in 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière were much more: they were poets of the image, pioneers who shaped the grammar of cinema itself.
Curated and narrated by Frémaux, ‘Lumière! The Adventure Continues’ compiles 108 restored works from 1895 to 1905, each lasting about 50 seconds and lovingly restored from 35mm negatives in 4K. The result is a stunning tapestry of life at the dawn of the 20th century — vivid, intimate, and astonishingly alive.
Organised into themed chapters — childhood, daily life, travel, labour, and comedy — the compilation reveals not only technical innovation but also human warmth that transcends time. Viewers encounter iconic films such as ‘Workers Leaving the Factory’ and ‘The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat’, alongside lesser-known gems like ‘The Sprinkler Sprinkled’ and tender vignettes of children playing or crowds strolling city streets. The Lumières’ ambition to capture the world extended far beyond France; their operators filmed scenes in Jerusalem, Vietnam, and London, creating one of the earliest global visions in cinema.
Frémaux’s commentary balances erudition with humour, illuminating how the camera itself transformed human behaviour — children clowning, passersby waving — revealing cinema as both mirror and performance.
The restoration work is breathtaking. The images shimmer with renewed clarity, reviving the textures of clothing, the gestures of people, and the light of a bygone world. Some early colour sequences astonish with their freshness, breaking the myth of cinema’s monochrome beginnings. Watching them today feels like looking through a time window — intimate yet timeless.
More than a history lesson, ‘Lumière! The Adventure Continues’ is deeply moving. The films pulse with humour, curiosity, and humanity. The famous train still evokes awe; a reel of Vietnamese children chasing the camera still sparks joy. Each short, though brief, brims with invention and surprise.
Ultimately, ‘Lumière! The Adventure Continues’ reminds us that from its first flicker, cinema was never merely technology — it was art, memory, and wonder. Through Frémaux’s loving curation, the Lumière brothers’ light continues to shine, guiding us back to the origins of an art form that forever changed how humanity sees itself.
(The author is the artistic director of the Bengaluru International Film Festival)