ABSTRACT
France was the birthplace of cinema, which may explain why the French see themselves as its guardians, leaders in the battle against ‘Hollywood hegemony’. The Lumière brothers gave the first public projection using the cinématographe one hundred years ago in Paris. With hindsight Murat (1995:3) claims that this invention was to revolutionise man’s relationship with the world and open new horizons for the imagination and artistic creation. For historical, artistic and economic reasons cinema is an integral part of French cultural heritage, and by 1910 the French film industry was world leader on the international market (Billard 1994:52).
