Flim* + Film* (for Film*)

On July 11, 1895, the Lumière Brothers illuminated for a group of scientists the latest innovations of film technology. Auguste and Louis Lumière were arguably the first filmmakers in history; according to the prevailing view, they invented cinema for the masses. Born in Besançon, France, in 1862 and 1864, the Lumières had appeared destined to work in the field of photography. (In accordance with the expression nomen est omen, or "the name is a sign," lumière means "light" in French.) After attending the largest technical school in Lyon, the brothers went to work in a photographic firm, the family business of their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière, a former portrait painter. Auguste managed the books and Louis, who was a physicist, developed some notable improvements to the dry-plate process involved in still photography. After their father retired, the brothers branched out and began exploring the possibilities of moving pictures. Their most important invention was the cinematograph, a combination camera, projector, and developer. The first footage shot with it, on March 19, 1895, was entitled Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon). The Lumière Brothers passed away in 1954 and 1948, while the old dark house full of light that the two of them had shared for years faded to black around 1970. We found 42 cases of Flim* + Film* in OhioLINK and 529 in WorldCat.

(Auguste and Louis Lumière, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid