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The First Film ()


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Leeds born filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson's thirty three year quest to prove that the worlds film industry started in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1888.

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Cast

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Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bernard Atha ...
Self
...
Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (voice)
...
Self
Nigel Cross ...
Self
Quentin Dowse ...
Self
Ben Eagle ...
Adolphe Le Prince
Tony Earnshaw ...
Self
...
Self
Aurelie Freoua ...
Self
Paul Goodman ...
Self
Louise A. Handley ...
Self
Annie Hartley ...
(archiveFootage)
Michael Harvey ...
Self - Historian
...
Self
Stephen Herbert ...
Self - Historian
...
Lizze Le Prince (voice)
Adolphe Le Prince ...
(archiveFootage)
Daniel Martin ...
Self - Historian
Mick McCann ...
Self - Historian
Beatrice Neumann ...
Self
Tony North ...
Self
...
Annie Hartley
Jacques Pfend ...
Self - Historian
...
Self
...
Self
...
(archiveFootage)
Mark Rance ...
Self - Historian
Katharine Round ...
Self
Liz Rymer ...
Self
Irfan Shah ...
Self
Laurie Snyder ...
Self
Gordon Trewinnard ...
Self
Carol s Ward ...
Self - Historian
Joseph Whitley ...
(archiveFootage)
Sarah Whitley ...
(archiveFootage)
...
Self
...
Self (uncredited)

Directed by

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David Wilkinson

Written by

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Irfan Shah ... ()
 
David Wilkinson ... ()

Produced by

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Doug Abbott ... executive producer
Chris Jones ... co-producer
Bill Lawrence ... co-producer
Martin Myers ... associate producer
Sidonie Roberts ... co-producer
Irfan Shah ... co-producer
David Wilkinson ... producer
Robert Worcester ... executive producer

Music by

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Christopher Barnett

Cinematography by

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John Adderley ... (Kinematgrapher)
David Beaumont
Don McVey
Nathan Page

Film Editing by

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David Hughes

Editorial Department

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Paula Hughes ... Editing assistant

Makeup Department

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David Sturgeon ... hair and beard stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Carl Aitken ... first assistant director
Spencer Burke ... second assistant director
Don McVey ... second unit director
Tamsyn O'Connor ... first assistant director

Sound Department

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Andy Black ... sound
Tudor Davies ... post-production sound
Brian Gray ... sound recordist
Paddy Hanlon ... sound recordist
Johan Maertens ... sound recordist
Ryan Jay Tweedie ... sound recordist (as Ryan Jay)

Visual Effects by

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David Palser ... digital effects

Camera and Electrical Department

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Liam Ayres ... second unit cameraman
Jean Birckel ... cameraman
Giumis Carrino ... camera
Mark Davis ... stills photographer
Chris Fahy ... hyper lapse camera
Jake Harvey ... assistant camera
Irene Marco ... assistant camera
Steve McAleavy ... cameraman
Jamie Tongue ... assistant camera

Music Department

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Ian East ... flute
Catherine Houghton ... violin
Alric Wilson ... music assistant

Additional Crew

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Oksana Belousova ... production assistant
Alison Butters ... assistant to producer
Jordan Carroll ... production assistant (as Jordon Carroll)
Aurelie Freoua ... production coordinator: France
Alev Gunes ... production assistant
Sara Mitchell ... title designer
Tamsyn O'Connor ... production coordinator
Evelynne Ralph-Larner ... production coordinator
Lisa Richards ... press relations
Oliver Roberts ... production assistant
Elias Savada ... American photographic researcher
Alex Stolz ... Distribution Strategist
Lydia Watson-Lewis ... production assistant
Emilie Erskine ... publicist: U.S. (uncredited)

Thanks

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Sarah Barton ... special thanks
Laurence Boyce ... thanks
Andy Bull ... special thanks
Wendy Cook ... special thanks
Jeff Cousins ... thanks
Mark Currie ... special thanks
Harriet Fleuriot ... thanks
Andrew Fryer ... special thanks
Peter Fydler ... thanks
Jane Giles ... thanks
Andrew Gill ... special thanks
Ian Grey ... special thanks
Zoe Guilford ... thanks
Matt Harlock ... thanks
Chris Hatton ... special thanks
Sonja Henrici ... thanks
Hugo Heppell ... thanks
Chris Horley ... thanks
Tracie Johnson ... thanks
David Keyte ... special thanks
Danny Lacey ... special thanks
Craig Lawson ... thanks
Keith Loudon ... special thanks
Rebecca Marshall ... special thanks
Ion Martea ... special thanks
Massimo Moretti ... special thanks
Amanda Nevill ... thanks
Gary Peacock ... special thanks
Charles Philips ... special thanks
Simon Popple ... thanks
Stephanie Porritt ... special thanks
Jonathan Priestley ... special thanks
Jo Quinton-Tulloch ... special thanks
Bingham Ray ... in memory of
Amy Roberts ... special thanks
Jasime Rodgers ... special thanks
Jerry Rothwell ... thanks
Maggie Silver ... special thanks
Mark Sloper ... thanks
Colin Vaines ... thanks
Martin Waller ... special thanks
Tim Waters ... special thanks
Tony Wilkinson ... in memory of
David Wilson ... special thanks
Andy Wooding ... thanks
Lucinda Yeadon ... thanks

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

In October 1888 Louis Le Prince produced the world's first films in Leeds,England. These were shot on cameras patented in both America and the UK. Once he had perfected his projection machine Le Prince arranged to demonstrate his discovery to the American public and thus the world. On 16th September 1890, just weeks before he was due to sail to New York Louis Aime Augustine Le Prince stepped onto the Dijon to Paris train and was never seen again. No body was ever found so legally no one could fight the Le Prince claim that he invented a camera that recorded the very first moving image. As a result, several years later, Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers were to claim the glory and the prize of being acknowledged as the first people to pioneer film. Louis Le Prince was never added to history books. But for one lone voice, who worked with him, Le Prince's name and his pioneering work was forgotten. THE FIRST FILM is a feature length documentary proving once and for all Le Prince made the world's very first moving image film from a single point of view in Leeds, Yorkshire, England Written by David Nicholas Wilkinson

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Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • El gran misterio de la historia del cine (Spain)
  • Η πρώτη ταινία (Greece)
  • Primul film (Romania)
  • Pierwszy film. Historia Louisa Le Prince'a (Poland)
  • See more »
Runtime
  • 106 min
Official Sites
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Filming Locations

Box Office

Budget GBP400,000 (estimated)

Did You Know?

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Trivia Due to budgetary constraint, the film was made over an almost three year period. Pre-production began in October 2012 and the film was finally delivered in May 2015. However, David Nicholas Wilkinson began work on the project in 1982 but it was not until 2012 and the Governments introduction of the SEIS scheme that made the film a viable proposition for investors. It opened in UK cinemas in July 2015. If Louis Le Prince had lived, he was due to show his films to the world at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in New York, George Washington's old headquarters. This would then have become the world's first movie theatre. The First Film (2015) was screened at the Mansion as part of an historic screening, squaring the circle, 126 years late. The New York Times recommended this event as a "must see" for two weeks running. See more »
Movie Connections Featured in Multimedia Update (11/03/2017) (2017). See more »

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