The Lumière Festival - Grand Lyon Film Festival

​Lyon is famous for its praline brioche, its hidden passageways known as ‘traboules’, its famous puppet Guignol and its local football club Olympique Lyonnais. The city has a lot more to offer though. For instance, there is the Lumière Festival, an annual gathering devoted to films, which celebrates Lyon’s role as the birthplace of cinema.
Our message to all film buffs: reserve the entire week to attend this film festival for all devoted to the history of cinema. In a few words and highlights, here’s what you can expect:
Nearly 170 films in their original languages, new copies or restored versions, presented by key figures of the cinema.

The 2024 edition

The 16^th edition of the Festival Lumière will take place from 12 to 20 October 2024.
The programme and guest list are revealed...

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Festival lumière

The Opening ceremony will take place at the Halle Tony Garnier, on Saturday 12 October at 6 pm, in the presence of a host of guest: artists, directors and professionals from the Cinema.
It will be followed by...

• Retrospectives and tributes dedicated to great filmmakers: 
  - Fred Zinnemann, from here to eternity...
  - Toshiro Mifune, a great figure of Japanese cinema.
  - Costa-Gavras: Celebration!
  - Alejandro Jodorowsky in Lyon!
  - The cinephilia of Justine Triet
  - Marin Kamitz, filmmaker, producer, collector
  - Alfonso Cuarón's new series
  - The Lelouch cinematic universe!
  - Chaplin the eternal
  - Yasuzo Masumura, extasy and agony
  - Yannick Bellon Centenary
• Huge film screenings:
  - the one for families, at the Halle Tony Garnier, on 13 October 'Les 12 Travaux d'Asterix'
  - The All-nighter of the Lumière 2024 festival: A Trip to the End of Horror, with 4 cult films on the giant screen of the Halle Tony Garnier, including bar, entertainment, makeshift dormitory and free breakfast.
• Cinema concerts to rediscover silent cinema at the Auditorium: Vampyr (Carl T. Meyer) on 17 October and Pêcheur d'Islande (Jacques de Baroncelli), on 19 October.
• Invitations  to film music composers, actresses and actors, filmmakers...
• Masterclasses and the opportunity of special encounters thanks to the festival guests: Isabelle Huppert, Vanessa Paradis, Costa-Gavras, Xavier Nolan, Benicio Del Toro, Giuseppe Tornatore, Iciar Bollain, Justine Triet, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Alexandre Aja.
• Two Exhibitions: 
  - America America, Collection Marin Karmiz, from 3 October 2024 to 5 January 2025 at the Photo Gallery, 20 rue du Premier Film, Lyon 8^th
  - Marin Karmiz presents SMITH / Lukas Hoffmann, from12 October to 10 November 2024 at the Photo Gallery, 3 rue Pléney, Lyon 1^st
• Numerous screenings of restored films, introduced by personalities of the cinema.
• Lumière Classics: a selection of the finest restored prints put forward by distributors and rights-holders.  Most of the French films are subtitled in English.
• Ten Premieres attended by cast and crew
• Places to get together: The festival Village in the Institut Lumière garden, and the Mâchon du Festival in a restaurant.
• A rendezvous for professionals: the International Classic Film Market.

And of course, 

• Presentation Ceremony of the Lumière Award to Isabelle Huppert, during which she will receive the 16^th Prix Lumière Award on 18 October evening, at the Convention Centre.
• The festival big closing night, with a screening, in a restored print, in the presence of a host of guests. At Halle Tony Garnier, Sunday 20 October.

The guest list, like the rest of the programme, is being revealed as the weeks go by: . 
See the programme of the festival (in French)
To book your ticket, please click here

The Lumière Award, the pride of the festival

In Lyon, the cradle of cinema, the legacy of the Lumière Brothers is tangible. Each edition is of course marked by the Lumière Award, an award given during a ceremony attended by many artists and spectators in the main room of the Cité Internationale Convention Centre. It is given to an iconic figure in cinema for their life’s work and the list of winners is enough to make any film-lover drool. Clint Eastwood was the first to receive it. He was followed by Milos Forman, Gérard Depardieu, Ken Loach, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, Catherine Deneuve, Wong Kar-wai, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Jane Campion, Tim Burton and Wim Wenders. And in 2024, Isabelle Huppert will receive the Lumière Award.

A festival that cherishes the memory of cinema

The Lumière Festival was conceived of as a tribute. Also known as the Grand Lyon Film Festival, it was the first French festival dedicated to historical films. Initiated by Bertrand Tavernier and Thierry Frémaux, and organised by the Institut Lumière and Greater Lyon, it is the essence of the city’s long cinema tradition. As any Lyonnais will tell you, it was in Lyon, and the Monplaisir neighbourhood to be precise, that the cinematograph was invented by the Lumière Brothers, Louis and Auguste. Lastly, the Lumière Festival is now also the city’s tribute to Bertrand Tavernier. This film-maker from Lyon, who passed away in 2021, was the president of the Institut Lumière from its creation in 1982, as well as the festival from its launch in 2009.

A festival for film buffs that is open to all

Every October since the festival’s creation, Lyon’s passion for cinema reaches fever pitch. In 2021, this gathering, which is now globally renowned, attracted 145,000 festival-goers. There is no Croisette, Oscars or red carpet, so what is its secret? It is without doubt the fresh perspective it brings to works of the past. You will find cult films, retrospectives, forgotten gems finally restored and tributes to major figures in cinema, as well as exhibitions, films screened to live music, masterclasses and the list goes on. The aim of the Lumière Festival is to make high-brow cinema accessible. Held throughout the Lyon urban area for nine days, it reaches out to all audiences, ranging from children in schools and hospitals to people in prison or on the fringes of society.

Where to see the Lumière Festival in Lyon?

The Lumière Festival reaches such a wide audience thanks in particular to its eclectic programme, which covers the entire city. Each year, the film festival comes to 46 locations in 21 towns in the Lyon metropolitan area, with around 170 screenings, including high-profile venues such as the Théâtre Comédie Odéon and the Auditorium de Lyon. Each edition begins with an opening evening at Halle Tony-Garnier, which also hosts the closing screening. For the 13th edition in 2021, for example, the film ‘The Cameraman’ by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick was screened, with musical accompaniment by Vincent Delerm on piano. In the grounds of the Institut Lumière, there is also the Village du Festival Lumière, which becomes a gathering place for the public and guests. There you will find a large DVD market and a cinema book shop, as well as a restaurant and beer bar.

An inclusive and socially engaged festival

Promoting films from the past and paying tribute to major figures in cinema are socially engaged actions in themselves. Building on these actions, the Lumière Classics quality label was created to draw public attention to the finest recent restorations carried out by film archives, producers, distributors and studios from around the world. 
The Lumière Festival is more than this however. Each year, it helps students, refugees, school dropouts and people facing insecurity access the job market. Furthermore, from the outset, the festival established the series ‘Histoire permanente des femmes cinéastes’ (permanent history of women film-makers) to highlight often overlooked female pioneers in the world of cinema.

Want to experience the festival for yourself? Make a note in your diary! The upcoming 15th edition will be held from Saturday the 12th to Sunday the 20th of October 2024 in Lyon and its metropolitan area.