''The First Film'' is a 2015 British documentary film about cinema pioneer

Louis Le Prince Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (28 August 1841 – disappeared 16 September 1890, declared dead 16 September 1897) was a French artist and the inventor of an early motion-picture camera, possibly the first person to shoot a moving picture sequ ...

, made by David Nicholas Wilkinson. It argues the case that Le Prince, rather than the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

, was the true inventor of moving pictures, making ''

Roundhay Garden Scene ''Roundhay Garden Scene'' is a short silent motion picture filmed by French inventor Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, in the north of England on 14 October 1888. It is believed to be the oldest surviving film. The cam ...

'' in Leeds in 1888. Le Prince mysteriously disappeared in 1890. Mark Kermode, film critic of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', described the film as "a flickering story that blends intrigue, industrial espionage, and possibly even murder". The film's world premiere was at the 2015

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

. It went on general release in the United States in September 2016. When the film was released in UK cinemas it attracted a great deal of publicity as the story was not generally well known. Radio 4’s Today Programme, News at Ten, CBS This Morning and many others all had editorial features about the film. It played in over 30 cinemas in the UK and has been screened on Channel 4 and SKY Arts. It played in film festivals in Russia, the USA, Ireland, Belgium, Turkey and others but not in France. All the French film festivals said that the Lumieres were the first to make film even though one of the people featured in the Roundhay Garden Scene and easily identified died several years before the Lumiere’s film was made. In ''The First Film'', Wilkinson finds the grave.

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* * * 2015 films 2015 documentary films British documentary films Documentary films about historical events Documentary films about films History of film Louis Le Prince 2010s British films {{UK-documentary-film-stub