On December 28, 1895, around 35 people gathered at Le Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris for the world’s first commercial public film screening. Lasting about 8 minutes, this event, organized by the Lumière brothers, introduced the revolutionary concept of moving images to the public. Among the audience was Georges Méliès, a magician and theater owner whose creative vision would later infuse cinema with magical realism, blending the fantastical with the everyday. Though modest in scale, this historic evening transformed the way we experience storytelling, paving the way for cinema as an art form that could transcend reality. Here is the Screening Program of December 28, 1895.