Louis Lumière

This film is a kind of anthology about Vienna, from the invention of film to the present day. The aim is to break down the usual clichéd "image of Vienna" such as that found in the traditional "Vienna Film" by juxtaposing documentary footage, newly shot material and subjective sequences created by various artists. Individual, self-contained sections of the film gain new meaning within the context of historical material. Familiar sites appear estranged when edited together with historical scenes. Other scenes appear like a persiflage or satirical. The film does not incorporate any commentary whatsoever. It is a collage of diverse materials aimed at conveying a distanced image of Vienna to the viewer

A viewer can visit the whole world in a cinema or revisit historic moments. This industry was born thanks to the Lumière brothers, who synthesized research into motion reproduction at the end of the 19th century. The first public screening took place on December 28, 1895. Since then, cinema has gone from strength to strength, with the addition of sound and research into 3D cinema, for example. Louis Lumière expressed his pride in having committed this “sin of youth”.

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.