Institut Lumière : The temple of cinema

Commissioned in 1982, the Institut Lumière, which was, at that time, the house of cinema and of the audio-visual art, has found a new lease of life and seriously reached its international dimension, in 1995, on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of the invention of cinema.

From that moment, the Villa Lumière, which houses the Institute over several floors, now has a Museum which proposes projections and a quite original museography, such as the model of the Villa of quite staggering precision and a photorama that makes possible to admire photos full circle.

In the "Hangar du Premier Film" (shed of the first film) in the very place where Auguste and Louis Lumière invented cinema, a true film theatre has been installed, in a two hundred and sixty-nine seat room, with large screen and numerical sound. The Institute also has a documentation centre created by Raymond Chirat, cinema historian. It proposes to the public numerous archives concerning the cinema, among which visitors are guided by a team of librarians. Educational activities are also proposed to schoolchildren with workshops and film shows for young public.

For every important event, inaugurations, festivals, exhibitions, numerous directors are happy to come each time they are invited by the Institute. To name but a few: Elia Kazan, Marcel Ophuls, Stephen Frears, Youssef Chahine and it is to be noted for the occasion, that the President who founded the Institut Lumière is the director Bertrand Tavernier, citizen of Lyon.

And we will also evoke the words of two directors invited to Lyon, Maurice Pialat who used to say: «The invention of the famous frères Lumière, is not realistic, it is a miracle» or even Wim Wenders, filled with emotion to be in Lyon «which has a very beautiful light», (this certainly explaining that) and willing to find, like the two brothers, sincerity and «the taste of wonderful things» That is cinema !