Celebration of film pioneer

The ‘Celebrating Louis Le Prince’ event, to be hosted by Leeds Beckett University on November 2, will feature a lecture on experimental film, the opening of an exhibition and the unveiling of a historic plaque.

Louis Le Prince conducted his groundbreaking work in Leeds in 1888. He filmed two moving picture sequences: ‘Roundhay Garden Scene’, shot at Oakwood Grange and believed to be the oldest surviving film in existence, and a Leeds Bridge street scene, using his single-lens camera.

A plaque, originally on the site of Le Prince’s former workshop in Leeds, will be reinstated at its original home of Broadcasting Place, part of Leeds Beckett’s city campus, at 2pm on November 2. A celebrity guest from Leeds International Film Festival will unveil the plaque.

Professor Robert Shail, of Leeds Beckett University, said: “It’s thrilling to bring back the original Louis Le Prince plaque to its home at the site of his former workshop. Le Prince was a pioneer who helped to make cinema possible.”

The first annual Louis Le Prince Lecture will take place from 11am to 12.30pm when film, video and installation artist John Smith will introduce and screen a selection of his films at the Henry Moore Lecture Theatre, Leeds Art Gallery. To book a place at the free event visit: http://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/events/guest-lectures/louis-le-prince-lecture/. At 1pm a free exhibition of images and artefacts related to Louis Le Prince and to his years in Leeds will be opened by Laurie Snyder, a descendant of Le Prince, at Leeds Central Library.