from the beginning
At an event in Paris organised by the Socété d’Encouragement à l’Industrie Nacional on the 22nd of March, 1895, the Lumièr brothers showed their film La sortie des ouviers des usines Lumière à Lyon Monplaisir (Workers leaving the Monplaisir Lumiere factory) which they had made three days previously. A lot has been written about that brief 45 second sequence of film since then. Why did the brothers choose that very subject for their first film? Was it a coincidence? An attempt to capture the idea of socialism? We, on the other hand, shall focus on something entirely different. Our attention has been brought to something that not even the most seasoned Cahiers du Cinema film buff has ever mentioned:
The first film ever made also brings us the first appearance on an animal in the movies. As the great crowds of men and women workers make their way out of the factory, a large playful dog suddenly appears skipping in around the trousered and skirted, as if to play with them. One of the workers leans over and pets the dog, who then starts to jump up and down. The Lumiére brothers filed the worker and the dog. Eduardo Jimeno Peromarta made the first spanish film with a camera his father had bought from the French brothers. The day picked for filming was the 11th of October, 1896. They decided to copy the brothers idea but in a more spanish setting: the crowds of people leaving midday mass at the Pilar Church in Saragossa.
The first film ever made also brings us the first appearance on an animal in the movies. As the great crowds of men and women workers make their way out of the factory, a large playful dog suddenly appears skipping in around the trousered and skirted, as if to play with them. One of the workers leans over and pets the dog, who then starts to jump up and down. The Lumiére brothers filed the worker and the dog. Eduardo Jimeno Peromarta made the first spanish film with a camera his father had bought from the French brothers. The day picked for filming was the 11th of October, 1896. They decided to copy the brothers idea but in a more spanish setting: the crowds of people leaving midday mass at the Pilar Church in Saragossa.
