Lumière, l’aventure continue celebrates the birth of cinema in Paris, July 29 at Alliance Française Vancouver
Documentary restores more than a hundred shorts by the legendary Lumière Brothers, in Visions Ouest presentation
Lumière, l'aventure continue.
Visions Ouest and Alliance Française Vancouver present Lumière, l'aventure continue on July 29 at 7 pm at 6161 Cambie Street
IF YOU CAN’T get to the French capital this summer, Lumière, l'aventure continue is a fascinating way to time-travel back instantly to old Paris.
Thierry Frémaux’s second celebration of the Lumière Brothers was timed in France to coincide with the 130th anniversary of what is believed to be the first-ever big-screen showing of a film, the duo’s Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon.
He’s restored more than a hundred super-short films from the late 19th century in luminous 4K. The pioneering brothers often shot their slices of life from moving streetcars, boats, and trains, giving an immediacy that seems way before its time.
You see everyday working people going about their lives, from factory workers and women handwashing their clothes in a river to porters and sailors—many of them in the elaborate hats of the era. But you also see a city at its height, with its elaborate World’s Fair buildings, new technologies of transportation, and busy streets. Narration gives context and colour to the beautiful black-and-white shots.
Occasionally, the duo took advantage of the burgeoning ability to travel internationally too, so the film takes quick trips to New York City and Algeria as well.
Add a soundtrack by famed French composer Gabriel Fauré, who was also at a creative peak at the end of the 19th century, and you have an experience that is simply merveilleuse. 
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