La Ciotat (; ; in Mistralian spelling La Ciéutat; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmost commune of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis. La Ciotat is located at about 25 km (15.5 mi) to the east of Marseille, at an equal distance from Toulon. In 2018, it had a population of 35,281. History The name La Ciutat, meaning 'the City' in Occitan (Provençal) and Catalan, became prominent in the 15th century. La Ciotat was the setting of one of the first projected motion pictures, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat filmed by the Lumière brothers in 1895. According to the Institut Lumière, before its Paris premiere, the film was shown to invited audiences in several French cities, including La Ciotat. Another three of the earliest Lumière films, Partie de cartes, L'Arroseur arrosé (the first known filmed comedy), and Repas de bébé, were also filmed in La Ciotat in 1895, at the Villa du Clos des Plages, the summer residence of the Lumière Brothers. In 1904 the Lumiere Brothers also developed their first colour photographs in La Ciotat. In 1907 Jules Le Noir invented the game of pétanque in La Ciotat, and the first tournament was held there in 1910. The history of the game is documented in the Musée Ciotaden. Observatoire des Libertés, a French cultural organisation, criticised the authorities for not enforcing the 1994 Toulon Law which says that public advertisements must be written in French. The commune was displaying a billboard promoting "Happy days a La Ciotat"a Demographics Commerce La Ciotat has a large number of offices uptown. These offices are a major source of employment and income for the local people through the transport, catering and other services they require. Also, business travelers to La Ciotat drive the local hotel business, which otherwise depends mainly on the tourism season. The centre has shopping malls along with branches of Carrefour and McDonald's. Route 10 passes through the city centre on its way to downtown from La Ciotat station. Transport The primary mode of transport into La Ciotat is the train station, which is a ten minutes drive from the city centre. The SNCF train service between Marseille and Toulon stops at La Ciotat, almost every hour during the day except for the mid-day one-hour break. Most parts of La Ciotat are covered by its