Jeremy Norman’sHistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through Timelines
Jeremy Norman’s
A: Paris, Île-de-France, France
"The Lumière's gardener François Clerc and laboratory apprentice Benoît Duval played the only characters in the 1895 Lumière film 'L’Arroseur arrosé'. A still from the footage was used in the background of this poster promoting Lumière films and their Cinématographe, and possibly the film itself. This image is believed to be the bottom half of the original poster. The poster is the first one believed to be designed to promote an individual film because of the use of the background screen image taken right from the film. This is a common practice today and has been right through the 20th century" (http://precinemahistory.net/lumiereposter1895.htm).
On December 28, 1895 August and Louis Lumière held their first public screening of films at which admission was charged, at Paris's Salon Indien du Grand Café.
"This history-making presentation featured ten short films, including their first film, Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds" (Wikipedia article on August and Louis Lumière, accessed 04-22-2009).
The first two of the ten films were:
