Neuville-sur-Saône: Débarquement du congrès des photographes à Lyon (1895)

Director:

Louis Lumière

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

Another milestone in film history - this may well have been the very first film to have been developed...

Plot Keywords:

Convention | Pier

Cast

P.J.C. Janssen

...

Himself

Also Known As:

Arrivée des congressistes à Neuville-sur-Saône (France) (alternative title)
Congrès des sociétés photographiques de France
Débarquement
Le débarquement du congrès de photographie à Lyon (France) (alternative title)
The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon (USA)

Runtime:

1 min

Country:

France

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Lumière

Film looking at itself.

This film is a virtual remake of 'Sortie d'Usine', perhaps making it the first self-referential movie. Instead of the workers streaming out of the factory, we have fellow cinematograph specialists disembarking a liner for a congress. Instead of workers silently doing their masters' bidding, we have colleagues, friends, peers, fearlessly greeting the camera as equals.

This is a film about film - the Congressionists walk with their cameras; this film was precessed immediately for viewing at the conference. Already, the Lumieres' desire to 'objectively' record the world has turned into a naval-gazing admission of defeat, of the impossibility of objectivity untainted by subjectivity or ideology. Godard once suggested that the most honest film would be of a camera recording itself in a mirror. This film is an early grasping of what he means.