Cannes Film Festival president Thierry Frémaux will showcase some of the world’s oldest moving images as he premieres his latest documentary at the Red Sea International Film Festival, Light! The adventure continuesa deep dive into the origins of the film.
This document is a sequel to Fremo Lumiere! The adventure begins (2016) will be screened as part of the festival’s International Spectacles sidebar. It contains approximately 100 perfectly restored short films from the Institut Lumière (where Frémaux was the director) and shot by film pioneers Louis and Auguste Lumière.
As the inventor of the motion picture camera, the groundbreaking video camera and the projection technology that made cinema possible, Lumiere’s technical prowess is well known. But in a new film in which he himself narrates, Fremaux examines the artistic vision of the Lumiere family that created a “grammar of cinema” from scratch.
“Louis Lumière was the last inventor, but the first filmmaker,” Fremaux said, noting how the Lumière brothers created the basic elements of cinematic expression through those early short films. Understand framing, light, and the power of a single shot. Their focus on simplicity and direct observation are qualities that many contemporary filmmakers could learn from, Fremaux said, noting that when Wes Anderson visited the academy in Lyon and saw the first Lumiere short, “he said ‘This is the movie of the future! ‘” He was right.
The following interview has been translated from the original French and edited for content and understanding.
What new aspects of the film’s origins did you feel the need to explore in this sequel that weren’t covered? Light, The adventure begins?
Lumiere’s filmography is very important: 1,500 official views and 500 uncataloged views. exist Lumiere, the adventure beginsabout a hundred [short] In movies and new documentaries Lumiere, the adventure beginsand about a hundred movies. That’s only 200! There is still much to explore. Many of the Lumière shorts here are unreleased, very rare, and very beautiful!
What did you discover that surprised (or delighted) you while researching the film?
Lumiere’s films are a wonder to me, even if they are in poor condition. With help from the Lumiere Institute [French national center of cinema] CNC, we restored 500 Lumiere films: so I could make my choice. This is often difficult because they are so beautiful. I should point out that in 2025 we will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Lumière Cinematograph. Cinema is more alive than ever, and its history is useful to us now.
As President of the Cannes Film Festival and Director of the Institut Lumière, how do you see the connection between early cinema and contemporary filmmaking?
Lumiere, the adventure continues Contains more philosophical aspects than the first one, perhaps more “existential”. We’ve arrived in 2024, and film is no longer a young art. Yet there is much to learn from early cinema. In particular, one thing remains very important: simplicity. Picasso said: “All my life I have tried to draw like a child.” In the film, I quoted Godard: “If we want to reinvent grammar, we have to meet the illiterate.” Lumière was the first illiterate, and he invented his own language. What he taught us was valuable. In Lyon I often showed Lumière’s films to filmmakers and they were impressed.
What elements from the Lumière brothers’ seminal work do you think still influence directors today?
This isn’t really an influence, as Lumière’s films are still little known, but it’s clearly the same inspiration. This is a trace, a heritage. Lumiere was also a pioneer in this area. In the history of film, movies [Carl Theodor] Dreher, [Jean] renoir, [Robert] Bresson, [Abbas] Kiarostami, [Chantal] Ackerman, [Maurice] Piarat, [Jean] Eustache is reminiscent of Lumière cinema. They have a New Wave or New Hollywood modernity. Today, filmmakers like Aki Kaurismaki, Alexander Payne or Andrea Arnold [similar] Love of framing and attention to the camera – heir to Lumière.
What aspects of modern filmmaking do you think the Lumières would find most confusing or shocking?
Lumiere invented cinema in 1895 and died in 1948. He was very surprised and said that he never thought that film would become the seventh art. But this is why I like him: he made movies from 1895 to 1900, and then stopped. He bequeathed his films to others. He said, “We let the artist continue on this path.” I think he was an artist himself.
You will be showing the film at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, a relatively young film festival in a region with an emerging film culture. How do you think the early development of cinema is similar to the current development of new frontier film culture?
At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, we chose Nora Author: Tawfiq Alzaidi. I felt something very beautiful in the power and simplicity of this Saudi Arabian film. We discovered something in Iranian films, Chinese films, American director films right from the beginning. Here again, being a pioneer brings you complete freedom.
What would we miss if we viewed Lumiere primarily through the lens of their groundbreaking inventions rather than their artistic vision?
Louis Lumiere was the last inventor but the first filmmaker, and this movie is about that. If we forget this, we lose track of a true filmmaker. The film also says that the way he made the film was crucial and it already contained a large part of the language of the film. Soon after, Georges Méliès arrived, and all the cinemas were already there.
These restored versions of the original shorts look spectacular. What was the original quality of the film?
From an early age, Lumiere was already an inventor, and an inventor in the field of photography. He understood technique, he understood the purity of black and white, light and framing. That’s why these movies are so beautiful, so spectacular. Moreover, Lumière was also concerned about his legacy, keeping all of his films close to him. The family then handed them over to the Institut Lumière, the Cinémathèque Française and the French state. Because of this, we are able to find the best materials to create these beautiful restorations. Restoration has just begun and we will be seeking funding to restore everything. Picture this: the first world cinema heritage intact. We have to take care of it.
What do we miss in modern cinema that Lumiere can remind us of?
Weiss Anderson came to Lyon to visit the Lumiere Museum. After seeing Lumiere’s film, he said, “This is the cinema of the future!” And he was right. Silent movies are simple and compelling: you just have to watch carefully. There is no sound to interfere with the image, the power of the lens. Through Lumière films we rediscover a spontaneity that is sometimes lost in contemporary cinema. Truffaut and Tavernier’s cinematographer Pierre-William Glen once told me after seeing Lumiere’s film: “If I had to deal with this subject, I would do the same thing. But I Could it be that simple? Like John Ford, Lumière always knew where to put the camera. Sometimes contemporary cinema loses this spontaneity and forgets to trust the audience’s ability to revisit Lumière today. The movie makes people confident about the future of movies.
