The Moon, the closest celestial body to the Earth, has been the starting point for human beings to look up at the stars and explore the universe since ancient times. More than four hundred years ago, Galileo observed the moon's rugged surface from a telescope. Since then, in addition to bringing timeless and pure imagery to literary scholars, it has also inspired artists to fantasize about the imagination.
In the pre-space age, human curiosity about the moon was evident in science fiction. Dating back to the second century AD, the adventurers of the ancient Roman writers arrived at the moon on wind-powered sailing ships. Later, in the depictions of Jules Verne, Edgar Poe, and others, the moon became the most distant travel destination for cannons and hot air balloons. After the birth of the film, these whimsical ideas are revived in the flowing images.
In 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon, marking the first time humans set foot on the moon. In January 2019, Chang'e-4 successfully made a soft landing on the far side of the moon, realizing the first soft landing of a human probe on the back of the moon and opening a new chapter in human lunar exploration.
The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival has launched a special "Flying to the Moon" section to present the most memorable lunar film in the history of cinema. This plan not only attempts to launch the romantic fantasies of the pre-space age, but also strives to include various exciting and tense events since modern space exploration. Today, I will introduce the first film of the lunar unit:
Astronomer's Dream
The Astronomer's Dream
- 1898 -
It's 4 years before Journey to the Moon
Directed by the French film master Georges Mélières in 1898, this 3-minute science fiction film shows the astronomer's wonderful interaction with Satan and the moon through a dream of an astronomer, with the typical whimsical style of Méliès. The film has no shortage of imaginative images and special effects, the shape of the moon in the film uses cartoon processing, and the small blackboard that suddenly becomes an animation, the fairy jumping up and down, etc., are also The best scenes of Mei Li ai. The film is directed by Mérière and his second wife, Jenny Mérière. Starring D. Ashi. The film was bought in the United States in 1899 by blockbuster swatheist Sigmund Lubin and renamed Journey to the Moon, which coincides with the title of Mériès's 1902 masterpiece.
A Journey to the Moon
A Trip to the Moon
- 1902 -
A lost and recovered science fiction classic
The most important silent film work of the most important pioneer in the history of science fiction cinema and the French film master Georges Mérieux. Inspired by Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel of the same name, it tells the story of the adventures of humans after landing on the moon. Although the film is only 14 minutes long, it is full of whimsy, and at that time, the most breathtaking special effects scenes included a spaceship flying into the moon's eyeballs and the stars rising at night. Filmed in three months and ten thousand francs, Méliès released in black and white and in color, the latter of which was considered lost until it was discovered in 1993 at the Catalan Film Archive. In 2011, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Méliès's birth, the Technicolor Color Foundation restored the film, and the colored version specially invited the French band Air to produce a new soundtrack.
Extraordinary journey
The Extraordinary Voyage
- 2011 -
The restoration secret of a legendary science fiction classic
A colored copy of the science fiction film Journey to the Moon, directed by French film maestro Georges Mérière, was rediscovered in 1993, but because the copy was so badly damaged, restoration work did not begin until 2010, when digital technology was relatively mature. The Technicolor Foundation spent 400,000 euros on a 2K scan of the film, supplementing the damaged part with a black-and-white copy, hand-colored and computer-coded according to the colored edition color spectrum. The documentary not only chronicles this extraordinary journey through the history of cinematic restoration, but also introduces the audience to the great pioneer of cinema and the wonderful behind-the-scenes story of the filming of the film. In addition to the appearance of behind-the-scenes restoration experts, the film also invited Jean-Pierre Genet, Michel Gundrie, Tom Hanks and many other famous directors to help talk.
Chang'e in the month
Woman in the Moon
- 1929 -
How the director became the "father of rockets" with this film
The last silent film by the German expressionist film master Fritz Lang, based on a novel by his wife of the time, Thea von Harper. The film revolves around the moon gold mining, the first half is almost like a spy war drama, the wisdom fight, transfiguration, beauty trick and other strange tricks continue to flow, the second half is the wild adventure romance film of lifting off to the moon. The most amazing thing about the film is the use of a more realistic approach to the rocket landing scene, Fritz Lang in the film to create the rocket to the unprecedented "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" countdown command, this practice was later used in all real-life aerospace projects, so that in the 1960s, some scholars called Fritz Lang the "father of rockets".
cosmonaut
Astronauts
- 1959 -
A pioneering animation classic of Polish cinema masters
Valerian Borovczyk was a master of Polish cinema who made his early debut with imaginative animated shorts before earning the opportunity to work in France, where Astronaut was the first animated short he directed. The film is a timely and prophetic satire of the Cold War through the story of astronauts flying into space on homemade rockets. The film combines traditional hand-drawn animation and still life photography, as well as hand-colored, full of whimsy and fun.
In addition, the director of this film, in addition to Borovchik, there is also the French Left Bank film master Chris Mark, but Mark later said that he was signed to help the film create a momentum, and he also repaid Borovchik's wife with a role in his masterpiece.
Moon
Moon
- 2009 -
Oscar-caliber one-man show
Duncan Jones, son of rock star David Bowie, made his feature film debut at the age of 28, telling the story of Sam, a contract worker in the future world who develops lunar energy, spends three years on the moon with robots and discovers a conspiracy before returning to Earth. The film was tailor-made for actor Sam Rockwell (one of the main actors in "Three Billboards") during the screenwriting stage, giving his one-man show plenty of room to play, and Oscar-winning kevin Spacey also voiced the robot behind the scenes. Jones incorporated elements such as his childhood favorite science fiction films "The Universe Is Quiet" and "Nine Clouds Out" into the film, and invited Bill Pearson, the model production director of "Alien", to participate in the prop design of the film, creating a science fiction masterpiece that perfectly combines the lonely space of the moon with the suspenseful atmosphere. The film's soundtrack is also impressive, with the composition by Golden Globe and Grammy Award-nominated musician Klein Manser, who is also Darren Aronowski's royal soundtrack.
Stay tuned to us and get the blockbuster list of the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival for the first time.
Note: In case of change in the film schedule, the actual schedule shall prevail.
The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival film list summary
Tribute to the Master 丨 Angelopoulos
Broadcast | Rebuild | Hunter | Beekeeper | Scenery in the fog | Crying Prairie | The dust of time
Tribute to the Master| Bresson
Death Row Jailbreak 丨 Pickpocket 丨 Gentle Woman 丨 Dreamer Four Nights 丨 Samurai Lan Shino 丨 Money
Diary of a Village Priest | The Judgment of Joan of Arc | Donkey Batsa | Mushet
Tribute to the Master 丨 Frederick Wiseman
Monrovia in Indiana 丨 Dance at berkeley 丨 National Gallery: Ballet at the Paris Opera
Tribute to the Master 丨 Casaveti
Shadow 丨 Face 丨 Husband Jun 丨 Affected Woman 丨 Premiere Night 丨 Female Gloria 丨 Love Torrent
SIFF classic 丨 film history recommended
Pandora's Box
SIFF Animation 丨 Akira | Whitesnake | Battle of Venus
SIFF documentary 丨 Agnès on Varda
4K fix
Schindler's list | The word | Tiger mouth escape | Black tulips | Distant sounds