Demolition of a Wall (1896)

Filmed in 1896 by Alexandre Promio for the Lumière company, this short actuality presents one of the earliest traveling shots in cinema. With the camera mounted on a gondola, the film glides along Venice’s Grand Canal, capturing passing gondolas, bustling waterfront activity, and the city’s iconic architecture from a moving perspective. This simple yet groundbreaking technique introduced audiences to a new way of experiencing motion on screen.

Three men are sitting around a table, two of them playing a game of Écarté. When the game is over, a domestic serves drinks.

A man has a fantastical nightmare involving, among other things, a grinning malevolent moon.

Down the gangway, photographers leave the deck of a riverboat in large numbers.

A band-leader has arranged seven chairs for the members of his band. When he sits down in the first chair, a cymbal player appears in the same chair, then rises and sits in the next chair. As the cymbal player sits down, a drummer appears in the second chair, and then likewise moves on to the third chair. In this way, an entire band is soon formed, and is then ready to perform.

An intoxicated man trespasses into an art gallery after hours.

A quarrel between two women that a man attempts to separate.

A train arrives at Perrache station. We see the view from aboard the train.

Nero, seated on a throne, has slaves summoned. Each drinks poison and dies, the second even though he can see the corpse of his predecessor.

An aging codger named Geri plays a daylong game of chess in the park against himself. Somehow, he begins losing to his livelier opponent. But just when the game's nearly over, Geri manages to turn the tables.