Century Film Project

This is another of the Lumière brothers’ first films, and it cleverly promoted itself to precisely the audience they wanted to market to. A conference of professional photographers was scheduled for Lyon, the city where the Lumières worked. Louis arranged to meet the arriving delegates as they disembarked from a river boat, and photographed them with his new cinematographe. That evening, the film was screened for them using the same cinematographe (which doubled as a camera and projector). All of the delegates had the chance to see themselves on the screen, in motion, as a scene they remembered from only hours before came to life. Naturally, it was a huge success. Watching the film now, it is obvious that the photographers recognize Louis – several of them take off their hats in greeting. A smaller number appear intrigued by the camera, though no one actually stops to stare, and I assume Louis or his brother was telling them to keep moving as they walked by the camera. Once again, as compared to an early Edison film, the angle is artistically arranged and the shoot is done naturalistically on location, not in an artificial studio.

Alternate Titles: Neuville-sur-Saône: Débarquement du congrès des photographes à Lyon

Director: Louis Lumière

Camera: Louis Lumière

Run Time: 48 seconds

You can watch it for free: here.