03/04/2015 - The Grand Palais is holding an exhibition organised by the Institut Lumière until 14 June, to celebrate the 120th anniversary of cinema

As the film industry anxiously waits in the wings for the announcement, 16 April, of the official selection for the 68^th Festival de Cannes (from 13 to 24 May 2015), the memory of the seventh art has occupied the VIP lounge in the Grand Palais, Paris for a week, for the exhibition Lumière ! Le cinéma inventé. For the man behind both these events, Thierry Frémaux, the task is twofold: showcasing the best of contemporary production on the Croisette (with the 2015 Cannes selection still in full swing and with only a third supposedly having been decided) and evaluating the heritage and history of cinema through initiatives at the Institut Lumière (where the Cannes chief is also the director general).

On the occasion of the 120^th anniversary of cinema, the Grand Palais is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the most important inventions of the cinema pioneers from Lyon : Louis et Auguste Lumière. Until 14 June, this is a great chance to revisit or discover the history of moving pictures, from their origins to the latest production and distribution techniques (like the change from film to digital), without forgetting the influence of Lumière aesthetics among filmmakers (from Renoir to Kiarostami, moving through Bresson, Rossellini, Tavernier, Pialat, etc.) or the myths of the film house. To forge a link between past and present, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Paolo Sorrentino, Xavier Dolan, Jerry Schatzberg and Michael Cimino have revisited the first 

Lumière film, Workers Leaving the Factory, and refilmed it, each in their own way, on the orginal site of the film premiere in Lyon. 

Shown in their entirety at the Gran Palais, the 1400 Lumière films produced between 1985 and 1905 notably include the ten from the first public screening at the Salon Indien du Grand Café at Paris, 28 December 1895. This is a return to the source which highlights France´s privileged position at the heart of the phenomenon that is cinema ; a position it will always occupy through the strength and diversity of a production and distribution system that is open to talent from other countries, as well as  the worldwide influence of the Cannes Festival. 

Organised by the Institut Lumière, the "Lumière ! Le cinéma inventé" exhibition is supported, among others, by the CNC.

(Translated from French)