Immerse yourself in a musical cornucopia of fantastical adventures, mind-teasing illusions, and shimmering visions from the very beginnings of cinema.
The films
In December 1895, a young Paris magician attended the first demonstration of moving pictures - a year later, Georges Méliès had built his own camera and started to experiment. But rather than record ordinary life as so many early film makers were content to do, Méliès unleashed his imagination, creating bizarre and beautiful cinematic visions of angels and aliens, shooting stars and spaceships.
Northern Silents partners with the National Science and Media Museum to present a selection of Méliès’s shorts, some painstakingly hand‑coloured, including his most famous work, A Trip to the Moon, which gave cinema its first truly iconic image—the rocket in the moon’s eye.
The music
Pianist and Northern Silents artistic director Jonny Best will introduce the films and perform live, improvised piano accompaniment.
Music: Jonny Best (piano)
Films include: A Trip to the Moon (1902), The Vanishing Lady (1896), The Man with the Rubber Head (1901), The Terrible Turkish Executioner (1904), Going to Bed under Difficulties (1900), Whimsical Illusion (1909), The Inventor Crazybrain and his Amazing Airship (1905), Crazy Composer (1905), The Infernl Cauldron (1903), The Kingdome of the Fairies (1903).
Screenings courtesy of FPA Classics, Paris.