Lumière! The Adventure Continues
The mission of the Centre d'art et essai de la Cinémathèque québécoise (CAECQ) is to primary program Quebec-made documentaries and independent fiction, as well as international documentaries, animated and foreign films, while encouraging opportunities for meetings between the public and the artists. Its programming is presented in conjunction with the Cinémathèque québécoise’s under the label New releases.
130 years ago, the Lumière brothers invented cinema. Everything was already there: the composition, the tracking shots, the dramatic scenes, the comedy sketches, the actors... Thanks to the restoration of over 100 previously unseen Lumière ‘views’, the feature film offers us an intact spectacle of the world at the turn of the century and a stimulating journey to the origins of a cinema that knows no end.
Thierry Frémaux
A cinema enthusiast from an early age, Thierry Frémaux became a radio reporter for the associative station Radio Canut, which he had co-founded, while majoring in History at the University of Lyon 2. In 1984, he completed a master’s thesis on the débuts of the film review Positif, established in Lyon by Bernard Chardère in 1952. He would become the founding director of the Institut Lumière in 1982. A volunteer since its creation, Frémaux became an Institut employee in 1990. Five years later, he was named Artistic Director along with President Bertrand Tavernier. Together, they organised the centenary of the Lumière Cinematograph in 1995 and placed the first stone for the reconstruction of the Hangar du Premier-Film. He was named Artistic Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. In 2007, he was appointed General Delegate of the event by his predecessor Gilles Jacob, without ever abandoning his activities in Lyon. In 2009, with the teams at the Institut, he founded and organised the Lumière film festival, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. He also created the Prix Lumière, often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of cinema’, which recognises a leading figure of cinema each year for his or her body of work. The first recipient of the prize was Clint Eastwood and Isabelle Huppert was its latest laureate. In 2017, Frémaux directed the film Lumière, The Adventure Begins, which presented 108 Lumière “vues” (films) in a restored version for the first time, respecting the original speed and framing. Thierry Frémaux is also the author of several books, including Sélection officielle (2017), a one-year account of making selections for the Cannes Film Festival, Judoka (2021) and Si nous avions su que nous l’aimions tant, nous l’aurions aimé davantage (2022), a tribute to the late Bertrand Tavernier. His latest work, Rue du Premier-Film, has just been issued. Along with the newly renovated Lumière Museum, the publication constitute the first phase of commemorations for the 130th anniversary of the birth of the Cinematograph. The release of Lumière, The Adventure Continues is a key event of the celebration.
