World’s oldest cinema to reopen today

World’s oldest cinema to reopen today

La Ciotat (France): The world’s oldest movie theatre, where the first films of the pioneering Lumiere brothers were screened in 1899, reopens in a sleepy southern French town on Wednesday after an extensive facelift.
    Gleaming velvet seats replace dusty chairs, fresh yellow paint and mosaic tiles adorn the facade while oak floors take the place of old carpets. The Eden Theatre, which closed in 1995, is all set for an inauguratory gala event.
    Actresses Juliette Binoche and Nathalie Baye and film director Roman Polanski are among the stars expected to attend the ceremony at the seafront theatre in La Ciotat, a town near the port city of Marseille.
    It was at the Eden that the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, screened their first moving pictures to 250 dazzled spectators on March 21, 1899.
    The brothers had previously showcased their work in other places, first at their rich, industrialist father’s home and then at other cinemas, but these have since disappeared. Over the decades, the Eden became both a cinema hall and theatre, and several French film stars such as Yves Montand and Fernandel performed there. But it hit hard times in the 1980s when the then owner was killed by crooks trying to steal his money, and movie buffs just stopped going.
    Then, the building opened only for one week every year to host a festival showcasing the first ever French-language movies, until its closure in 1995. AFP

OLD IS GOLD: L’Eden, where the first films of the Lumiere brothers were screened in 1899