Lumière brothers

The Lumière brothers held the first commercial public film screening on December 28, 1895, at the Grand Café on Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. Attendees paid one franc for admission, making it the first time audiences paid to watch projected films.

The Cinématographe, patented by the Lumière brothers in 1895, was a single portable device that functioned as a camera, film printer, and projector all in one. In contrast, Edison's Kinetoscope was a peep-show device that only allowed one person at a time to view a film through a viewing window.

One of their most iconic films is 'La Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon' (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory), a roughly 46-second single-shot film showing workers exiting the brothers' photographic factory in Lyon. Another famous work is 'L'Arroseur arrosé' (The Waterer Watered), widely considered the first narrative comedy film.

No, the brothers largely abandoned filmmaking by around 1905, as they did not believe cinema had significant long-term commercial potential. They instead focused on developing the Autochrome color photography process, which they introduced commercially in 1907 as the first practical color photographic system.