The cinématographe was apparently first patented in 1892 as 'Cinématographe Léon Bouly' by French inventor Léon Bouly. The wealthy brothers eventually bought Bouly's patent in 1895 as Bouly was facing financial problems and was not able to pay for the patent anymore. The new Lumière cinematograph patent is dated February 13th, 1895 and the first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19th the same year. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory.
The projection took place in Paris, at the 'Society for the Development of the National Industry', in front of an invited audience of 200 people - among which Leon Gaumont, then director of the 'Comptoir de la Photographie'. The main focus of this conference by Louis Lumière were the recent developments in the photograph industry, mainly the research on polychromy (color photography). It was much to Lumière's surprise that the moving black-and-white images retained far more attention than the boring colored still photographs. The 7th art and an new industry was born.