CINÉ CONCERT : MÉNILMONTANT & BRUMES D’AUTOMNE

Just imagine the effect the first films had on audiences: ‘It was as if a train had come hurtling into the cinema!’ It’s hard for us today, when we’re constantly bombarded with images of all kinds. The first cinema screening took place on 28 December 1895 in the Indian Room of the Grand Café in Paris, at 14 Boulevard des Capucines. It was silent film, of course!

Let’s not get drawn into the debate over whether the Lumière brothers or Thomas Edison were the inventors of the cinematograph. Like any invention, cinema was preceded by numerous ingenious attempts that paved the way and ultimately led to the ‘right’ idea. What’s amusing is that these inventors didn’t necessarily see the full potential of their inventions. Louis Lumière’s grandson reports that his grandfather was certain that cinema would strain the audience’s eyes and that the craze would fade away, like a flash in the pan. Thomas Edison didn’t believe in it either!

Be that as it may, music quickly became the norm to enhance the images. And it was real-life musicians – mostly pianists – who accompanied the films by improvising in time with the images.

That is what we are offering you in this partnership with the Toulouse Film Archive. But with an orchestra on stage, improvisation is out of the question! Just imagine the cacophony… As was the case last year, the composer Vincent Ferrand has written the accompaniment for the two films we are presenting.