The Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, were the first to achieve a satisfactory system for taking and projecting moving pictures made on a celluloid strip. The brothers began work on designing a camera in 1894 after seeing a piece of Edison Kinetoscope film which had just arrived in Paris. A succesful machine with a mechanism based on a sewing machine movement was patented in France on 13 February 1895. The machine combined both a camera and a projector and the perforated film was moved intermittently by a claw mechanism.

The Lumière's called the device the Cinématograph and the first public presentation was given at the Société d'encouragement a l'industrie Nationale in Oaris on 22 March 1895. The Lumière's projected a film showing workers leaving their Lyons factory. Other films were quickly produced. The first presentation in London was given by Felicien Trewey on 20 February 1896 and regular shows began shortly afterwards in Leicester Square.