CMCI’s Emeritus Professor Richard Howells has appeared in a two-part French radio documentary about Louis Le Prince -the man said to have invented the cinema, but who disappeared in mysterious circumstances before he could take the credit.
As Howells states in: “Il aurait pu inventer le cinéma: Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince”, it is a fascinating case with: “two suspicious deaths, but only one body.”
The documentary was made by Radio France’s public service “France Culture” channel and covers the inventor’s life and accomplishments, together with his mysterious death. Howells talks with particular interest in Le Prince’s cameras, but especially the primacy debate and what he calls “the ontology of invention.”
Howells has previously published on Le Prince in The Times Higher Education and also a definitive scholarly article for the academic journal Screen.
Born in France, Le Prince also lived and worked in both England and the United States. You can find out more and listen to the documentary (in French) at: https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/une-histoire-particuliere-un-recit-documentaire-en-deux-parties
The original transmission dates were November 27 and 28, 2021: Épisode 1 : Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince; and Épisode 2 : Quand l’inventeur disparaît.
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