The oldest surviving film is two seconds of a family walking in a garden

On October 14, 1888, French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed his family walking in circles in a garden in Roundhay, Leeds — and the result, Roundhay Garden Scene, is believed to be the oldest surviving film. It runs about two seconds. Sarah Whitley, Le Prince's mother-in-law, is seen walking backward and turning; Sarah died ten days after the scene was filmed.

The cast also included Le Prince's son Adolphe, Sarah's husband Joseph Whitley, and family friend Annie Hartley. Adolphe later said his father shot the footage at 12 frames per second, though modern analysis suggests it was closer to 7. The camera Le Prince used to make it was patented on November 16, 1888 — a month after filming.

The original negative was eventually lost, but not before the Science Museum in London made a photographic glass plate copy of 20 surviving frames in the 1930s. Those frames were later printed onto 35mm film — the version now free to view on the Internet Archive. Oakwood Grange, the house where it was filmed, was demolished in 1972; only its garden walls remain.

Previously:

• This 1900 film of a solar eclipse may be the oldest footage of an astronomical event ever
• Watch restored film footage from Denmark, 1902
• 1920s footage of one of the world's oldest surviving roller coasters