The Birthplace of Cinema and Home to Vibrant Film Festivals

Explore Lyon’s rich cinematic history at the Musée Lumière and enjoy world-class film festivals like Festival Lumière

The Lumière brothers’ movie cameras, displayed at Musée Lumière
Olivier Chassignole

Lyon can lay claim to being the birthplace of modern movies. Auguste and Louis Lumière invented their ‘cinématographe’ moving pictures system and produced short films between 1895-1905. They screened ‘Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory’ in March 1895 at the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale in Paris, and their first commercial screening took place in December 1895 for a paying audience of around 40. This has traditionally been regarded as the birth of cinema. The whole story is told in the excellent Musée Lumière in the brothers’ beautiful Villa Lumiére. In the same complex there is a library and a cinema. 

The annual international Festival Lumière takes place from October 11-19 this year. As well as celebrating classic cinema with around 450 screenings all over the city, it also unveils restored versions, and offers a complete programme of conferences, exhibitions, retrospectives and a competition to win the Prix Lumière. Some of the screenings are free, and many have discounts for students, unemployed people, etc.

There are other festivals too. Filmoramax, the ‘Festival International de Court-Métrage’ (short films), runs from September 30 to October 4, 2025. The Que du Feu festival highlights emerging cinema talents from November 1-8, 2025, while Cinema Le Zola holds its ‘Festival du Film Court de Villeurbanne’ from November 11-16, 2025.

The number of cinema festivals reflects the number of movie schools in Lyon. Cinéfabrique, Esec Lyon and Eicar all offer thorough training to those wanting to make films for a profession. 

Explore the early days of film at the Musée Lumière
Musée Lumière/Photo DR

For both visitors and residents the wide choice of cinemas in Lyon is a joy. Comoedia very often has films in VOST (version originale sous titrée, ie with French subtitles) rather than VF (dubbed into French). Le Zola also offers screenings of films in VOST. As well as screenings, the Aquarium Ciné-Café offers workshops in film-making, during which the 8-10 participants make a short film together.

There is also a quirky cinema museum in Vieux Lyon, the Musée Cinéma & Miniature Lyon. Spread over three floors, it contains all sorts of costumes, animatronics, props and memorabilia from film sets as well as a series of miniature model film sets. All the signs and notices are in English as well as French, but some of the exhibits from horror films are unsuitable for young children. It takes a couple of hours to see everything properly.

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