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It's January 1896 in Paris, France. A young woman walks arm and arm with her husband

down a crowded boulevard. They are on their way to the Grand Café, where a marvelous spectacle

is scheduled to take place. This afternoon, renowned pioneers of photographical equipment,

Auguste and Louis Lumière are showcasing their latest invention, the Cinematograph,

an ingenious contraption that somehow captures moving images and projects them onto a screen.

The young couple excitedly steps inside the Grand Café and walks across the marble lobby.

They pass through an inconspicuous door and descend a long flight of stairs to the basement.

Here, in a small exhibition space, the Lumière brothers are demonstrating their invention

to paying members of the public. The young woman looks around at the excited clientele,

but struggles to share their anticipation. This isn't the first public showcase of the Lumière's

invention. That took place a few weeks ago. It created an immediate buzz around Paris,

with the next morning's newspapers full of rave reviews about the arrival of a bright new dawn

for human ingenuity. But still, the young woman remains skeptical. To her mind, images on a screen

will never replicate real life, the fact that these are moving images sound to her like a childish

gimmick. But then, a hush descends over the audience as the gas lamps are dimmed. A beam of light

projects the title onto a screen, the arrival of a train at La Siotta station. Suddenly, a different

image appears. One of passengers standing on a train platform, except the people in the image,

appear to be alive. The young woman leans forward in her seat, captivated, as a train looms into

view at the top of the picture. Her jaw drops as the train thunders toward the audience,

...