Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory
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Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory or La Sortie des usines Lumière (original French title; literal English translation The Exit From the Lumière Factories), made in 1895, is a short film produced and distributed by the Lumière Brothers, and one of the first films ever made.
It depicts everything promised in the title — a large group of mostly female workers in Belle Époque garb, exiting a large building (25 rue St. Victor, Montplaisir on the outskirts of Lyon, France), as if they had just finished a day's work. The film is widely cited as the first documentary film, an honor debunked by modern film scholars who suggest that several "takes" may have been filmed on the same day.
Arguments against the "documentary" honor include:
- Judging from the shadows, the sun is directly overhead. It is roughly noon; an early day?
- Are those really their work clothes, or did they purposely dress up, knowing that they would have their pictures taken?
- The workers on the left exit to the right, and vice versa (this suggests they were given direction -- not a "documentary" practice).
- No one walks toward the camera.
- A dog and bicyclist appear at the same time, from different parts of the frame.
- A carriage drawn by two horses is the grand finale, which would be unusual to find in the factory.
See also
- Arrival of a Train
- History of cinema
External links
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