It can be argued that cinema was created in France by Louis Lumire in 1895 with the invention of the icinmatographei, the first true motion-picture camera and projector. While there were other cameras and devices invented earlier that were capable of projecting intermittent motion of images, the icinmatographei was the first device capable of recording and externally projecting images in such a way as to convey motion. Early films such as Lumire's iLa Sortie de l'usinei, a minute-long film of workers leaving the Lumire factory, captured the imagination of the nation and quickly inspired the likes of Georges Mlis, Alice Guy, and Charles Path. Through the years, French cinema has been responsible for producing some of the world's best directors--Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, Franois Truffaut, and Louis Malle--and actors--Charles Boyer, Catherine Deneuve, Grard Depardieu, and Audrey Tautou. piThe A to Z of French Cinemai covers the history of French film from the silent era to the present