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Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
La Sortie de l’usine Lumière à Lyon
A man opens the large gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France, in 1895: a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birthplaces of cinema. Through the gate and a smaller door next to it, workers stream out for lunch. Most of them are women in long dresses and large hats, but some are men. Once all the workers have left the factory, the gatekeeper closes the gate again.
Bio Louis Lumière
Louis Jean Lumière (1864–1948) was a French manufacturer of photography equipment. Along with his brother Auguste, he is best known for their Cinématographe system and the short films they produced between 1895 and 1905, which places them among the earliest filmmakers.
In the historical context of industrialisation and developing free-market economy in Europe, the motif of the factory worker leaving his place of work assumes a key role. What is striking is that more than just a few women are among the workers—filmic proof that the industrial revolution acknowledged the female labour force, and that new professions outside the domestic sphere were opening up.
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- This film was #22 in the “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025