How beautiful ! The Lumière Festival honored Wim Wenders, but also provides the opportunity to pay tribute to the “bosses” with the reopening of the Light Museum in the former family home of the inventors of cinema. This new, completely renovated version will be visible to the general public from October 26, a good fun and magical way to review the basics of the 7th art.
The Villa Lumière, built in 1900 by Antoine Lumière, classified as a Historic Monument and closed to visitors since January 2023, is already an attraction in its own right. The innovations brought to the exhibition give a touch of modernity to this journey into the territory of cinema pioneers. 20 minutes had the chance to visit this mecca of the 7th Art in preview.
Highlights of the museum
We were amazed by the zoetrope in relief designed by the artist Emilie Tolot. All you have to do is press a button and it starts up and animates 300 characters suddenly coming to life with so much vivacity that you quickly don’t know where to look. We understand how the movement is broken down because we see the magic working. It is predicted that this will be the highlight of the exhibition.
The life of the Lumière family has been carefully documented giving a bird’s eye view of their times. We have fun watching them perform everyday actions and their existence becomes that of ordinary people, as if we were attending a screening of our own family’s films. Laughter guaranteed in their company. It’s really very successful.
The museum has completely dusted itself off to offer visitors a fascinating mix of historical and even ethnographic revelations with samples of period films revisited using modern techniques. We have a weakness for an animated painting showing the extent of Lumière production. It would take 24 hours to view in detail what we apprehend here in a single glance.
The renovated museum offers a real moment of emotion for any cinema lover (with, right next to it, the street of the first film where you can see the remains of the hangar where was filmed The exit from the Lumière factories). We can only warmly recommend going there for a little while during a visit to Lyon. It really is as educational as it is beautiful for all ages.