Georges Méliès‘ LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE (A Trip to the Moon), was released today in 1902.  Special presentation in honor.

A Trip to the Moon is one of the earliest known science fiction films. A segment near the end was animated, making this one of the first animated films, too. (IMDB)

Although no official credits are included, Georges Méliès left a record in a 1930 letter with cast and crew credits. Ballet girls from the Théâtre du Châtelet portrayed the stars while the Selenites were portrayed by acrobats from the Folies Bergère. (IMDB)

D.W. Griffith said about Melies, “I owe him everything.”

Charles Chaplin said he was “the alchemist of light.”

 

Worthy of special note as this landmark film celebrates its 111th anniversary:  Turner Classic Movies (TCM) begins an historic series today, The Story of Film: An Odyssey – a 15-episode documentary directed and narrated by Mark Cousins.  Individual episodes of the documentary will be presented on Mondays each week followed by a line-up of feature films related to each episode.  The entire festival, which runs through December, is dedicated to over 100 years of world film history, as The Story of Film covers, and will include 119 movies from 29 countries, many of them TCM premieres.