The Lumière Festival - Grand Lyon Film Festival 2021

The Lumière Festival, nothing short of an institution for both the people of Lyon and visitors, will be coming to most of Greater Lyon’s cinemas, as well as its museums and show venues.

The first film was shot by the Lumière Brothers in Lyon and the city worships the seventh art. This is reflected by the enormous success of this festival of cinema heritage, which has continued to grow in popularity each year since 2009. The award of the Prix Lumière, in honour of the career of an artist or film-maker, has become an internationally famous event.

Throughout the festival, leading figures, actors, cinema professionals, film score composers and journalists gather in Lyon to meet their audiences, exchange ideas, give masterclasses and conferences and present restored copies of films, as well as to celebrate cinema and their peers. 

Festival highlights

The Lumière Festival includes a number of grand ceremonies, including the opening evening on 9 October at Halle Tony Garnier, presented by Thierry Frémaux, the festival’s director, along with various film personalities.
This year, the 13th Prix Lumière will be awarded to Jane Campion, the film-maker from New Zealand who rose to fame following the success of The Piano, at a grand ceremony on 15 October. Her name will be added to the illustrious list of previous award winners: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Fonda, Wong Kar-wai, Catherine Deneuve, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodóvar, Quentin Tarantino, Ken Loach, Gérard Depardieu, Milos Forman and Clint Eastwood.

The film-concert event will present a restored version of Alexandre Volkoff’s The Loves of Casanova (1927), accompanied by the Lyon National Orchestra, directed by the score’s composer Günter Buchwald. The event will be held at the Auditorium on 13 October. 

This year, a Jurassic All-nighter will welcome 5000 film buffs at Halle Tony-Garnier on the night of 16 October, with four feature films and entertainment from 9 pm to dawn. 

A special evening will be held to pay tribute to Bertrand Tavernier, on 10 and 11 October, with the screening of seven of his films, presented by their cast members. 

Retrospectives

• Kinuyo Tanaka, the only female director of the golden age of Japanese cinema; 
• Sydney Pollack’s America, with 15 films by the author of Out of Africa, starring his frequent collaborator Robert Redford; 
• The Popular cinema of Gilles Grangier (13 films with restored copies, including The Counterfeiters of Paris, Gas-oil and The Night Affair)
• Great black and white classics 
• Sublime moments of silent film

Meetings with the artists

Each day at the Comédie Odéon, you can meet the festival’s guests: Paolo Sorrentino, Edouard Baer, Philippe Sarde, Edgar Morin, Bulle Ogier or Juan Antonio Bayona.

As well as at other cinemas: Jane Campion, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nan Goldin, Rebecca Hall, Marco Bellochio. Not to forget the many guest artists.

Go to the Day Village in the grounds of the Institut Lumière, where you can meet cinema professionals and film buffs to share your experience of the festival in an informal setting.

But that’s not all… 
There will be major screenings and film lectures, as well as documentaries on the history of cinema and the stars, presented by the festival’s many guests, including actors, film-makers and cinema professionals. 

The programme offers a wide-ranging view of the art of filmmaking, from its beginnings to the present day, from silent films to recent releases from all countries, offering a chance to (re)discover great masterpieces, all too little known films and gems in all genres. Workshops and exhibitions will also be held throughout the Lyon metropolitan area. 

The Lumière Festival for kids

For young audiences (but this will please some grown-ups too), the festival will be holding a screening at Halle Tony-Garnier to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Shrek!

The Lumière Festival has something for everybody and is not to be missed under any circumstances!