Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895)

French title: La Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon
aka Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory or Exiting the Factory

dir. Louis Lumière

It is often cited as the first real motion picture ever made, though some historians dispute it. The film exists in at least three separate versions, where the clothing style changes demonstrate the different seasons in which they were filmed. The first version lasted 45 seconds and was reportedly shot on March 19, 1895. It showed employees of the Lumière company—predominantly female workers—leaving the premises at 21–23 Rue Saint-Victor in the Monplaisir district of Lyon. This short motion picture was shown at a private screening in Paris on March 22, 1895. One of the versions was among the ten films shown at the Salon Indien of the Grand Café in Paris on December 28, 1895, the world's first commercial movie screening.

The Hangar of the First Film is the last remaining structure of the Lumière factories in Lyon. Chemin Saint-Victor has since been renamed Rue du Premier-Film (Street of the First Film).

Originally, the hangar belonged to a hat-making business acquired by the Lumière brothers in 1881. Then it was part of the original photographic plate factory of the Lumière brothers’ father, Antoine. Restored in 1998, the hangar is now protected by a modern structure designed by the architect Pierre Colboc. The building serves as the entrance hall for one of the cinemas at the Lumière Institute.

Located near the Villa Lumière, the building was first registered as a historical monument by an order dated May 18, 1992, and subsequently given full protected status by an order dated December 2, 1994, in conjunction with the "Centenary of Cinema" celebrations held in 1995.

The Villa Lumière is the former home of the Lumière family. It houses a museum honoring the achievements of Auguste and Louis Lumière, the creators of the Cinematograph, a revolutionary combination of camera, film processing, and projection system that paved the way for the first public screenings of motion pictures. The museum is operated by an organization called the Institut Lumière, which was co-founded in 1982 by the grandson of Louis Lumière.

The monument commemorating the Lumière brothers at the Cours Albert-Thomas in Lyon. The inscription says: "In this neighborhood, the Lumière brothers invented the Cinematograph."