Lumière and Company facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lumière and Company
Directed by	Several (see Directors)
Written by	Several
Release date(s)	1995 (1995)

Lumière and Company (its original French name is Lumière et compagnie) is a special movie from 1995. It's an anthology film, which means it's a collection of many short films put together. Forty-one different film directors from around the world worked on this project.

Each director made a short film using a very old camera called the Cinématographe. This camera was invented by the famous Lumière brothers over 100 years ago! The idea was to make new films using the same kind of equipment that started cinema.

The short films had to follow three strict rules:

• Each film could be no longer than 52 seconds.
• There was no synchronized sound, meaning no talking or music added later.
• Directors could only film up to three takes (tries) for their short movie.

Meet the Directors

Many famous directors from different countries took part in this unique film project. They all wanted to try making a movie with the old Cinématographe camera, just like the Lumière brothers did.

What Happens in the Short Films?

Each director created a very different story or scene for their short film. Here's a quick look at what some of them are about:

• Patrice Leconte: This film shows a train arriving at a station, just like one of the very first movies ever made by the Lumière brothers. It's filmed 100 years later at the same place.
• Gabriel Axel: This short shows how art has changed over time, leading up to movies. Then, two men have a duel.
• Claude Miller: A girl tries to stand on a weighing scale, but others keep pushing her off. Finally, a man picks her up and puts her on his shoulders, and they both get on the scale.
• Jacques Rivette: A girl plays hopscotch while a woman roller-skates. The roller-skating woman accidentally bumps into a man who is reading a newspaper.
• Michael Haneke: You see different clips from TV news on March 19, 1995. This was exactly 100 years after the famous Lumière brothers' train film was shot.
• Fernando Trueba: A man named Felix Romero leaves a prison. He was there because he refused to join the Spanish military.
• Merzak Allouache: A couple walks in a park and notices the camera. They both look at it, and then the man pushes the woman out of the way.
• Raymond Depardon: Children use a ladder to put a hat on top of a large statue.
• Wim Wenders: Two men look out at a city view.
• Jaco Van Dormael: A happy couple shares a kiss.
• Nadine Trintignant: Tourists walk around the famous Louvre museum in Paris.
• Régis Wargnier: A man walks towards the camera in a park. You hear a voice remembering a scene from another movie.
• Hugh Hudson: Japanese schoolchildren visit a monument in Hiroshima. You hear sounds from news reports about the bombing of Hiroshima.
• Zhang Yimou: A man plays a traditional Chinese instrument while a woman dances. Then, they change into punk clothes, and the man plays a guitar while the woman moves her head wildly.
• Liv Ullmann: You see the cinematographer Sven Nykvist working with his camera.
• Vicente Aranda: A parade celebrating a victory drives through the street.
• Lucian Pintilie: People get into a helicopter, and then the helicopter takes off.
• John Boorman: This film shows what happened behind the scenes while making the movie Michael Collins.
• Claude Lelouch: A couple hugs while different camera crews move around them.
• Abbas Kiarostami: An egg cooks in a frying pan. You hear a voicemail message playing.
• Lasse Hallström: A woman with a baby waves at a train as it passes by.
• Costa-Gavras: Several young adults gather around to look at the camera.
• Yoshishige Yoshida: The film switches between a shot of Yoshida with the camera and a destroyed building in Hiroshima. You hear the sound of an explosion.
• Idrissa Ouedraogo: A man goes for a swim in a river, but then another man wearing a mask scares him away.
• Gaston Kaboré: Outside a movie theater, a group of friends with a camera find a truck full of filmstrips.
• Youssef Chahine: Two men are filming the Pyramids of Giza. Another man runs up to them, breaks their camera, and then leaves angrily.
• Helma Sanders-Brahms: This is a tribute to Louis Cochet. A man directs lighting equipment next to a waterfall.
• Francis Girod: A large picture of a TV showing a director in his chair is painted over with white paint.
• Cédric Klapisch: A man and a woman try to act out a scene where they hug each other.
• Alain Corneau: A woman dances, and her clothes quickly change colors.
• Merchant & Ivory: People walk around the busy streets of Paris.
• Jerry Schatzberg: A garbage worker puts trash into his truck. A woman argues with him because she doesn't want to give up her trash.
• Spike Lee: This film shows footage of his newborn daughter, Satchel Lee.
• Andrei Konchalovsky: In a natural outdoor setting, the body of an animal slowly breaks down.
• Peter Greenaway: You see different images, including the Lumière brothers, various years, and a man sitting in a chair.
• Bigas Luna: A woman sits in a field and nurses a baby.
• Arthur Penn: A man tied to a bed screams. In the bunk above him is a pregnant woman.
• David Lynch: Police find a person who has been murdered and tell the family.
• Theo Angelopoulos: Homer wakes up on a rocky beach. As he tries to figure out where he is, he stares directly at the camera.