Lumière and Company
 

PostED ON 13.10.2025

‘I love Lyon. I love the people who invented the foundations of my profession,’ declares Youssef Chahine.

© Collection Institut Lumière

‘Why do you film?’ This is the question posed by the narrator's voice in Sarah Moon's kaleidoscope documentary, Lumière and Company. Behind the generic question lies a novel idea: What if one were to place the Lumière brothers' device in the hands of renowned filmmakers? The cinematograph is thus entrusted to some forty directors: Youssef Chahine, Jacques Rivette, Raymond Depardon, Alain Corneau, Michael Haneke, Liv Ullmann, Claude Lelouch, Costa-Gavras and David Lynch, to name but a few. They each have an opportunity to make a fifty-two second film using a single shot. It is fascinating and poignant to witness to what extent the artists are touched by the chance to handle this historical, iconic machine. 

In one film, of course sans sound, President François Mitterrand slowly makes his way across a landscape before leaving the frame, under the gaze of Régis Wargnier. We hear Lynch's voice declaring that cinema will never die. We see the face of Claude Miller, who answers the initial question, claiming that he films ‘because I want people to love me’. Over a century later, the Lumière brothers' invention continues to produce small miracles in the heart of urban or natural landscapes... in fifty-two seconds.

Virginie Apiou

Lumière and compagnie by Sarah Moon (Lumière et compagnie, 1995, 1h32)

Restoration: 4K restoration by Cinétévé. 
Our thanks to distributor Cinétévé

Institut Lumière (Villa) Mon13 7pm | Institut Lumière (Villa) Mon13 7.15pm | Lumière Terreaux Tue14 11am