The Lumière Brothers' Cinematograph in Nizhny Novgorod was the first public film screening in the city, held in July 1896 during the 16th All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition. The event was one of the first cinematograph screenings in Russia outside the two capitals.
The Screening at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka
The cinematograph was brought to Nizhny Novgorod by the impresario Charles Aumont, who delivered the Lumière brothers' equipment and films from Moscow. The screenings took place in the rented Concert Parisien theater on the grounds of the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka; people lined up to attend.[1]
The screen showed short films that later became classics of early cinema: "The Arrival of a Train," "The Sprinkler Sprinkled," and other subjects.[1]
Press Response
One of the screenings was attended by Maxim Gorky, who described what he had seen in the Nizhegorodsky Listok under the pseudonym M. Pacatus. His report is one of the first critical texts about cinema in Russian journalism.[1]
Sources
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — "I Have Been in the Kingdom of Shadows." Maxim Gorky's Impressions of the Lumière Brothers' First Film Screening