Although motion pictures are an invention that cannot be narrowed down to only one date or one individual, it is conventional wisdom that the French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere invented cinema. This is mostly due to the fact that they were the first ones to project their films through the cinematograph: a camera, printer and projector, which they invented in Lyon. Their father, Antoine, is credited for organizing the first public-paid projection at the Grand Café in Paris, on December 28th, 1895. This began the trend of showing motion pictures to a paying audience -- to which Edison converted later -- with the mass media success that we know now. The Lumiere brothers privileged documentaries at first, funding cameramen to go all around the world with almost a scientific approach, switching only later to the fiction style, led in France by George Méliès.

- Lumière means "light", in  

  French. Quite an  

  appropriate name for the  

  inventors of Cinema!
- Tintin creator's real 

  name was Georges Remi. 

  His initials, reversed  

  "R.G."and pronouced in  

  French, become Hergé.

- The name of the first  

  movie shown in public on  

  Dec 28,1895? Workers  

  Leaving the Lumière  

  Factory.