Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

of the films depict the world of work, either in industry or
agriculture. The Lumières initiated the important genres
of documentary and fiction in films.
The Lumière films were made initially in and around
Lyon and La Ciotat, then in Paris and the French provinces,
followed by Italy, Switzerland, Germany, England and
Spain. The cameramen subsequently visited Sweden,
Russia and Turkey, the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa.
Finally, they went to film in the French provinces in
� Louis Lumière
(overleaf) Wall painting mural showing the entrance of the
Lumière Brothers cinematography shop in Lyon, France. �
Indo-China and Japan. They also went to the United States,
Mexico, Canada and Australia.
They were the first to capture visually the lifestyles,
customs and traditions of people in distant lands. In
Western countries, the films capture the people’s ways
of life before the advent of cars into towns and cities. In
most countries the cameramen visited, the Lumière films
were the first films ever made and shown.
In all, 1423 films were made at the Lumière factory.
The whereabouts of eighteen of these are unknown
and the collection currently comprises 1405. This is an
exceptionally high survival rate for films of this era, as
almost 80 percent of silent films have been lost. Although
they are recorded on fragile cellulose nitrate film, almost
all the films in the collection have survived because the
Lumières kept them in optimal conditions of preservation.
The Archives françaises du film is the custodian of the
collection which is still owned by the Lumière family.
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