Under the leadership of film techniques historian Jean-Pierre Verscheure, the exhibition is organized in chronological order, from the first magic lanterns to Pathé projectors.
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Interest in theatrical cinema still present
The film by Thierry Frémaux (second part of a diptych dedicated to the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière, initiated in 2017 with Light ! The Adventure Begins) comes to reinvigorate the cinema experience at the source. Because if the Lumière brothers shot the first films, patenting their device on film in 1895, they also initiated the first paid public screening, organized on December 28, 1895 at the Grand Café in Paris – while Thomas Edison, American cinema pioneer, patented his kinetoscope for individual use.
“With Lumière, the quarrel between inventors disappears, cinema is here” marvels Thierry Frémaux, the young film buff who rose through the ranks of the Lumière Institute thanks to the filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier who appreciated his sporting energy and appointed him artistic director in 1995. Some former collaborators have since questioned his management “brutal” in a Mediapart survey but the Frémaux vessel is holding up.
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And Belgian industry in all this?
To the recent hard blows of the Belgian industry (closure of the White cinema, bankruptcy of the distributor Belga), his film adds a joyful celebration of the 7th art. Made up of 120 “views” unpublished fifty-second films made from 1894 by Louis Lumière (1864-1948) and his operators, punctuated by the gravelly voice (sometimes omnipresent) of Frémaux and the melodies of Gabriel Fauré (contemporary of the Lumière brothers), we have the impression of witnessing the birth of cinema.
Card players, pranksters, swimming scenes in La Ciotat with the Lumière wives (the two brothers having married two sisters) tell of the pleasures and the days before the arrival of the Great War and the appearance of the first colonial images. Of “baby meal” to “herb burners”, from the views of Algiers to the streets of Meiji-era Japan, everything announces not only the advent of cinema as a way of looking but also as a popular art par excellence. Ours.
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Is cinephilia soluble in TikTok and social networks? What responsibility is there to pass it on today?
THIERRY FREMAUX – Every era has its cinephilia. Young people read fewer critical journals, it’s true, but they read extracts online. In my time, nobility meant being a film critic. In Jack London’s time it was to be a writer. In the age of social networks, the goal is to be an influencer, to create buzz. And therefore desire. My idea is to bring the Lumière brothers back to the present. I don’t like people to talk about primitive cinema, because their art is already extremely sophisticated. It was a mission that fell upon me when I was a young film buff from Lyon, to restore their memory. I really discovered them with Bertrand Tavernier in 1995 when we decided to restore the Lumière films and show them in theaters, that hadn’t happened since 1905. I started watching a lot of them. At that moment, Tavernier and the film historian Bernard Chardère pointed out to me that I was not talking about the Lumière films as a historian but as a cinephile and that there was a film to be made. Even though I hate my voice, I wanted to talk about Lumière films like when you talk about a film you saw the day before.
At a time when Warner’s online catalogs are merging with Paramount, what do you say to those who say that theatrical cinema is going to die?
The language of cinema is everywhere, whether it’s on the internet, an Instagram post or a video game. Cinema is more alive than ever but on the big screen, it’s something else… The further into the future we go, the more going to the cinema in theaters will be a singular, important act, both intimate and collective. Otherwise they will close. We can still consider that we have just gone through complex times with the triumph of platforms. This is why at the Lumière Institute, we continue the sessions with children. There are three hundred of them, they act stupid, and as soon as the screen lights up, they shut up, they watch. For two hours, without social networks, they are alone with a work. It is the victory of Lumière against Edison. Edison is the iPhone and Netflix, Lumière is the room.
You are a strong advocate for the gym. As a delegate to the Cannes Film Festival, is it difficult to maintain the rule that competition films must be released in theaters to be selected?
For competition films this rule remains valid, it is very important that they have the same treatment. I think that Ted Sarandos, the boss of Netflix, also believes a lot in the theater and loves cinema. Furthermore, I am also a user of Netflix and all possible platforms. But France remains the country of “Light” (he specifies “without s”, Editor’s note), a country with a strong tradition of cinema. Better yet, the opening film of Cannes must not only be released in theaters, but on the very day of the opening of the festival (scheduled this year from May 12 to 23 – Editor’s note), so that the brilliance of the Cannes festival benefits everyone. We also show works that are not released in theaters, series by David Lynch, Jane Campion or Marco Bellocchio. But I am convinced that the room remains a political and social act. I’m a Bruce Springsteen fan, I have everything at home. But seeing Bruce in concert is unforgettable. It’s like the room. See Lawrence of Arabia in the cinema it is incomparable. The room creates emotion.
Documentary
Light, The Adventure Continues!
Directed by Thierry Frémaux – 104′
Light, The Adventure Continues! Documentary By Thierry Frémaux Editing Jonathan Cayssials, Simon Gemelli with Thierry Frémaux Music Grabriel Fauré Duration 1 h 34
Origins of cinema exhibition. Until 14/6, Palace, Boulevard Anspach 85, 1000 Brussels. Programming www.cinema-palace.be/fr/exposition-origins-cinema
