The Extraordinary Voyage
Feb 28, 2012
(Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange, 2011, France, Blu-ray, 60 min)
In Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon, the first science fiction movie ever made, six academics undertake an expedition that will take them to the Moon. They leave Earth in a rocket fired from a giant cannon. When they arrive on the Moon, they discover earthshine and the Selenites. The six escape from the Selenites' king and return to Earth.
This extraordinary documentary, The Extraordinary Journey by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange, charts Bromberg’s discovery of a tinted nitrate copy of the film in Barcelona and the ensuing challenges posed by one of the most complex film restorations in cinema history. With Costa Gavras (Z), Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), and Martin Scorsese, whose recent film Hugo owes a great debt to Méliès. Screens with A Trip to the Moon with a new soundtrack by the French band Air.
"The gorgeous restoration of his masterpiece “A Trip to the Moon” that was shown at the Cannes and Telluride film festivals was surely a cinematic highlight of the year, maybe the century" –A.O. Scott, NY Times
