Lumière, Le Cinéma! (2024): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2024, Lumière, Le Cinéma! is a documentary and history film directed by Thierry Frémaux, running about 104 minutes.

What it’s about. In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses Lumière, Le Cinema! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.

Who’s in it. Lumière, Le Cinéma! stars Thierry Frémaux as Self - Narrator (voice), Francis Ford Coppola as Self, Roman Coppola as Self and Bertrand Tavernier as Self, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 7.0/10, Lumière, Le Cinéma! has been warmly received by audiences.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Lumière, Le Cinéma! page.

If you liked it. Fans of Lumière, Le Cinéma! tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.