It is 136 years old and is the oldest film in the world, made 7 years before the birth of cinema.

“On December 28, 1895, we opened a public projection room in the basement of the Grand Cafe, and only from that day on could someone say: ‘I was at the cinema’.” These are the words of Louis Loomer, spoken around 1940. That evening, the Lumiere brothers held the first paid public screening in the history of cinema. With the screening of the first film: the launch of the Lumiere factories in Lyon. Cinema was just born.

Animated sketches

It is surprising that the site letter box Sometimes a list of very early “films”. Only a few seconds long, they cannot claim to qualify as films in the traditional sense, as they are most often collages of images that give the illusion of movement.

Like this series of animated vignettes about thirty seconds long Capybara walk; The capybara is a huge rodent – the largest – known for its calmness. This series of images was created in 1887 by a very famous photographer, Edward Muybridge, who was also devoted to the study of the science of movement.

Photo revolver

Or these incredible pictures Transit of VenusA series of photographs of the movement of the planet Venus in front of the Sun in 1874. This series was taken in Japan by the French astronomer Jules Jansen using it. Photographic revolverand which is considered to be the first example of chronophotography.

This photographic technique consists of taking a series of photographs, which makes it possible to chronologically break down phases of movement (human or animal) or physical phenomena that are too short to properly observe with the naked eye.

A film from the era of Jack the Ripper

However, the earliest images that have come down to us that can be described as film come from a sequence called Scene in Roundhay Garden. Recorded at 12 frames per second and lasting 2.11 seconds, it is duly recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest surviving film.

Here are the pictures…

This series is filmed Louis Aimé Augustine Prince October 14, 1888 using photographic film on paper. According to Le Prince’s son Adolphe, the film was shot at the home of Joseph and Sarah Wheatley in Leeds, England on October 14, 1888.

Consisting only of still photographs obtained through the process of chronophotography, this endeavor was never seen in motion during Le Prince’s lifetime. In 1930, the photographs were taken on 35 mm film, thus recreating the movement that Prince had not seen. It’s still fascinating to see pictures like this, 136 years old.