1895 in film

Events

• March 22 - First display of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière (private screening).
• Gaumont Pictures founded by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont.
• In France, brothers named Auguste and Louis Lumière, designed and built a lightweight, hand-held motion picture camera called the Cinématographe. The Lumière brothers discovered that their machine could also be used to project images onto a large screen. The Lumière brothers created several short films at this time that are considered to be pivotal in the history of motion pictures.
• September or October - C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat demonstrate their Phantoscope, a motion picture projector, in Atlanta, Georgia.
• November - In Germany, Emil and Max Skladanowsky develop their own film projector.
• December 28 - The Lumiere brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is sometimes considered the debut of the motion picture as an entertainment medium.

• January 20 - George Burns
• February 8 - King Vidor
• March 17 - Shemp Howard
• May 6 - Rudolph Valentino
• October 2 - Bud Abbot
• October 4 - Buster Keaton
• October 21 - Edna Purviance