Opening Night kicks off the Lumière festival 2014!

The Lumière festival was launched last night, as per tradition, by a series of guests who perfectly incarnate the philosophical vibes of the popular event: Eclecticism and simplicity.

Stéphane Audran (who will discuss Claude Sautet during the festival as well as Bernard Lecoq) rubbed shoulders with Michael Cimino, who was not far from composer Michel Legrand. The quintessential comic French actor-director of the 1970s, Pierre Richard, took a seat close to the new generation of French filmmakers, Samuel Théis and Mary Amachoukeli, directors of Party Girl.

At a time when the crowd was gathering and people were making their way to their seats in La Halle, other members of the film industry, like producers Michele Halberstadt or Manuel Chiche were chatting with Canadian-Australian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff, the latter attending Lumière to discuss Wake in Fright, among other things.

With the crowd finally seated and settled, the lights were dimmed way down low for the opening ceremony, where we saw a clip of the Krémos family of acrobats, filmed by the Lumière brothers, and a burlesque tribute to Alain Resnais with an extract of a purely delightful dance performed by Laurel and Hardy, adored by Resnais.

But the Lumière festival would be nothing without the resonant strength of the cinema, rekindled every year, by paying tribute to a great personality of international film. This year, the American actress Faye Dunaway came to embody the spirit of Lumière 2014, that of the nature of the event and its fans. "Without you, I would not be the same Faye Dunaway," she declared in a voice choked by emotion in a Halle Tony Garnier ablaze with light and packed till the rafters. The Lumière festival 2014 is indeed open!

OPENING NIGHT PHOTO GALLERY

La Halle Tony Garnier

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Jean-Luc Mège
Clotilde Courau

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Michael Cimino

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Laetitia Casta

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Valérie Mairesse

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Thierry Frémaux, Virginie Efira et Tonie Marshall

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Michael Cimino

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Michael Cimino

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Laetitia Casta

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Stéphane Audran

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Lucien Jean-Baptiste, Mélanie Doutey et Pascal Elbé

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Virginie Efira

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Faye Dunaway et Thierry Frémaux

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Thierry frémaux et Faye Dunaway

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Faye Dunaway

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Jean-Hugues Anglade

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Julie Gayet

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Richard Anconina

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Vincent Pérez

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Pierre Richard

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Stéphane Audran

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Ted Kotcheff

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Jean-Hugues Anglade

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Faye Dunaway et Jerry Schatzberg

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Pierre Richard

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Faye Dunaway

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Anouck Nicolas / Jean-Luc Mège
Gérard Collomb, Faye Dunaway et Thierry Frémaux

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Virginie Efira

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Laetitia Casta

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Mélanie Doutey

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat / Jean Luc Mège
Laurent Gerra

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Mélanie Doutey, Laetitia Casta et Danièle Heymann

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Bastien Sungauer
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Bastien Sungauer
Danièle Heymann, Jerry Schatzberg et Laurent Gerra

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Bastien Sungauer
Mélanie Doutey, Laetitia Casta, Danièle Heymann et Jerry Schatzberg

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Bastien Sungauer
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Thierry Frémaux, Faye Dunaway, Bertrand Tavernier et Jerry Schatzberg

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Bastien Sungauer
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Anouck Nicolas / Jean-Luc Mège
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Jean-Luc Mège
Faye Dunaway

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Jean-Luc Mège
Faye Dunaway et Thierry Frémaux

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Jean-Luc Mège
Bertrand Tavernier, Faye Dunaway et Thierry Frémaux

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Jean-Luc Mège
Laetitia Casta

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Laetitia Casta et Gérard Colomb

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Lucien Jean-Baptiste

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Laeticia Casta

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic benoit
Pascal Elbé

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Mélanie Doutey

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Mélanie Doutey

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Virginie Efira

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Zoé Félix

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Zoé Félix

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Julie Gayet

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Julie Gayet

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Tonie Marshall

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Elsa Zylberstein

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Elsa Zylberstein

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Loic Benoit
Nicole Garcia

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Sandrine Thesillat - Jean-Luc Mège
Jean-Hugues Anglade

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Mélanie Doutey

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Blandine Soulage-Rocca
Virginie Efira

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Olivier Chassignole
Bertrand Tavernier, Faye dunaway et Thierry Frémaux

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Anouck Nicolas - Jean-Luc Mège
Faye Dunaway

Copyright Institut Lumière / Photo Anouck Nicolas - Jean-Luc Mège