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A trip to the moon as you’ve never seen it before.

One of the landmark films in cinema can now be seen in color

Daniel Eagan

It’s one of the most famous films in cinema, a special-effects, science-fiction extravaganza that became an international sensation when it was released in 1902. Almost instantly it was pirated, bootlegged, copied and released by competing studios under different names. And for decades it’s only been available in black-and-white copies.

Now, after a 12 year project that approached a half-million euros in cost, Lobster Films , The Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage , and Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma are unveiling a new version of A Trip to the Moon , “resurrected,” in the words of preservationist Tom Burton, from an original, hand-colored nitrate print. For the first time in generations viewers will be able to see the color version of the film that stunned early 20th-century moviegoers.

Le voyage dans la lune , to use its French title, is one of over 500 movies made by Georges Méliès, perhaps the first filmmaker to fully grasp the potential of cinema. The son of a wealthy shoemaker, Méliès was born in 1861. Fascinated by magic and illusions, he left the family business in 1888. Buying the Robert-Houdin theater from his widow in Paris, he developed a successful act with illusions such as “The Vanishing Lady.” Méliès was in the audience when the Lumière brothers held their first public film screening on December 28, 1895, and within months was exhibiting movies at his theater.

Méliès made his first film in November, 1896, built his own studio in 1901 and formed the Star Film brand to market his work in France and internationally. He made movies about current events and fairy tales, replicated his stage illusions on screen and developed a highly advanced technical style that incorporated stop-motion animation: double-, triple-, and quadruple-exposures; cross-dissolves; and jump cuts. More than any of his contemporaries, Méliès made movies that were fun and exciting. They were filled with stunts, tricks, jokes, dancing girls, elaborate sets and hints of the macabre.

A Trip to the Moon had several antecedents, including the 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and A Trip to the Moon , a four-act opera with music by Jacques Offenbach that debuted in 1877. Méliès may also have been aware of a theater show at the 1901 Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, called A Trip to the Moon . Filming started in May, 1902. It was released on September 1 in Paris and a little over a month later in New York City.

At the time exhibitors and individuals could purchase films outright from the Star Films catalog. Color prints were available at an extra cost. Probably not too many color prints of A Trip to the Moon were ever in existence, but it came out right around that time color became a real fad. Within a couple of years, the hand-painting was replaced by tinting and stencil process, so color became more prevalent and less expensive. Several color Méliès films survive, but it was believed that the color Trip to the Moon had long been lost.

But in 1993, Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange of Lobster Films obtained an original nitrate print from the Filmoteca de Catalunya . The only problem: it had decomposed into the equivalent of a solid hockey puck. In 1999, Bromberg and Lange, two of the most indefatigable of all film historians, began to try to unspool the reel by placing it in the equivalent of a humidor, using a chemical compound that softened the nitrate enough to digitally document individual frames. (The process also ultimately destroyed the film.)

Years later, Bromberg had some 5,000 digital files, which he handed over to Tom Burton, the executive director of Technicolor Restoration Services in Hollywood. In a recent phone call, Burton described how his team approached this “bucket of digital shards.”

“What we got was a bunch of digital data that had no sequential relationship to each other because they had to photograph whatever frame or piece of a frame that they could,” Burton recalled. “We had to figure out the puzzle of where these chunks of frames, sometimes little corners of a frame or a half of a frame, where all these little pieces went. Over a period of about nine months we put all these pieces back together, building not only sections but rebuilding individual frames from shattered pieces.”

Burton estimated that they could salvage between 85 to 90 percent of the print. They filled in the missing frames by copying them from a private print held by the Méliès family and digitally coloring the frames to match the original hand colored source.

“It’s really more a visual effects project in a way than a restoration project,” Burton said. “A lot of the technology that we used to rebuild these frames is the technology you would use if you were making a first-run, major visual effects motion picture. You’d never have been able to pull this off 10 years ago, and certainly not at all with analog, photochemical technology.”

For Burton, A Trip to the Moon represents the beginnings of modern visual effects as we know them today. “Seeing it in color makes it a whole different film,” he said. “The technique involved teams of women painting individual frames with tiny brushes and aniline dyes. The color is surprisingly accurate but at times not very precise. It will wander in and out of an actor’s jacket, for example. But it’s very organic. It will never rival the way A Trip to the Moon first screened for audiences, but it’s still pretty amazing.”

A Trip to the Moon was shown at the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival in May, and is screening on September 6 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bromberg will be showing it at this year’s New York Film Festival , and on November 11 at the Museum of Modern Art , along “with the world premiere of my documentary about the restoration. An absolute must!” as he wrote in an e-mail. Was this his most exciting restoration? “One of them, of course,” he answered. “The best one is the next one!!”

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"Daniel Eagan is a film writer and author of America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry . "

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'A Trip to the Moon': 1902 Film Classic Gets 21st Century Facelift

NASA's Apollo astronauts may have first put boot prints on the moon in 1969, but moviegoers made the roundtrip long before that — in fact, way back in 1902.

Thanks to innovative French filmmaker, Georges Méliès, a pioneer of early cinema and special effects, audiences were transported across the intervening void to the moon. His 14-minute silent film, "A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage Dans La Lune)," was arguably the "2001: Space Odyssey" of its time.

The film portrays members of the Astronomers' Club, dispatched on an expedition to the moon. Their mode of propulsion — a huge cannon — borrowed from French novelist Jules Verne's space adventure "From the Earth to the Moon," which was published in 1865.

The film shows the intrepid travelers arriving on the moon safe and sound, only to encounter the Selenites. They escape the clutches of the Selenite king and hustle back to Earth in their bullet-shaped vehicle.

Landing in the ocean, the explorers are fished out by a sailor. All this is followed by cheers, decorations and a victorious parade for the six conquerors of the cosmos. [ 'Transformers' Film Trailer Rewrites Apollo History ]

Cannes Film Festival

Now, rocket ahead 109 years. A restored color version of the classic film is wowing theater patrons again, this time at the upscale Cannes Film Festival running May 11 to May 22 on the French Riviera.

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When it was first released, Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon" was both in black and white, as well as a hand-tinted color version.

The color adaptation was thought to be long lost. But a colorized print of the film was recovered in Barcelona, Spain, about 18 years ago.

On close examination, it became painfully obvious that time had not treated the nitrate print well. It was severely damaged and in such poor condition that refurbishment of the film looked impractical.

Enter the digital age

In 2010, a cooperative film restoration project was launched by Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage. [ Top 10 Movie Computer Interfaces ]

Brought to bear were state-of-the-art digital technologies, with the fragments of the 13,375 frames reassembled and painstakingly restored, one by one, to create a fully reinstated color version of the film.

Handling the damaged color print was not easy. It involved peeling off and unrolling the nitrate prints to be able to digitize them. That effort took two years, and images were stored on a hard drive for eight years.

The digital color restoration of "A Trip to the Moon" took place at Technicolor's laboratories in Los Angeles, under the watchful eye of Tom Burton, executive director of restoration services at the company.

21st century soundtrack

"This is the most complex and ambitious restoration project we have ever taken on," declared leaders of the restoration venture in a joint statement by Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films, Gilles Duval of Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and Séverine Wemaere with Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage.

The budget to complete the task was purportedly somewhere in the range of $500,000 to $600,000.

According to a statement from Technicolor, the objective now is to circulate the film to the largest audience possible.

Back in 1902, at the time of its first release, "A Trip to the Moon" was screened with a musician on stage playing "popular music," as described in the film reviews of the era.

For that purpose, the French band Air composed an original soundtrack to accompany the silent film. That inventive musical duo has among their credits the critically acclaimed album "Moon Safari."

Explains Air musician, Nicolas Godin: "'A Trip to the Moon' is undoubtedly more organic than most of our past projects. We wanted it to sound 'handmade,' knocked together, a bit like Méliès' special effects. Everything is played live … like Méliès' film, our soundtrack is nourished by living art."

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of this year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

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Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon)

Film Details

Science Fiction and Fantasy, Short Films, Silent

No Dialogue

One of the first narrative films in cinema history, A Trip to the Moon is a playful sci-fi story from the silent era. A group of astronomers agree to take part in a dangerous exploration mission and are rocketed into space in a metal capsule. When they land on the moon, they encounter surreal plants, creatures and fantastical beings, all brought to life with inventive special effects. Director Georges Méliès is credited with having invented the jump cut, an editing trick for making objects and people ‘magically’ appear or disappear on film – a technique that has influenced generations of filmmakers and is still being adopted by today’s TikTok creators. This iconic short film is wildly imaginative, capturing audiences with the stark magic of the moving image to transport them to the moon.

• George Méliès

Cast (in alphabetical order)

• Victor André ,
• Bleuette Bernon ,
• Georges Méliès

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Contains very mild fantasy violence.

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Le Grand Voyage

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Ismaël Ferroukhi

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Ismaël Ferroukhi: Le Grand Voyage

The journey home

“Reda: Why didn’t you fly to Mecca? It’s a lot simpler. The Father: When the waters of the ocean rise to the heavens, they lose their bitterness to become pure again … Reda: What? The Father: The ocean waters evaporate as they rise to the clouds. And as they evaporate they become fresh. That’s why it’s better to go on your pilgrimage on foot than on horseback, better on horseback than by car, better by car than by boat, better by boat than by plane.”

LE GRAND VOYAGE by French-Moroccan auteur, Ismaël Ferroukhi (born 1962), is one of those rare cinematic events that leaves you weeping long after the final closing moments, when you realize that what you have just experienced is your own inner pilgrimage into the deepest chambers of your heart in humble homage to the puissance of human relationships, the potency of spiritual journeys and, above all, the power of eternal love.

The first ever fiction feature to be granted permission to film in Mecca, Le Grand Voyage explores the relationship between a devout Muslim immigrant Moroccan father (Mohamed Majd) and his secular French adolescent son, Réda (Nicolas Cazalé), as they set off en route from Provence, France, in a beat-up blue Peugeot to make the annual hajj or pilgrimage, travelling through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan before finally reaching Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon more than 1,400 years ago.

Forced to leave behind his girlfriend, Lisa, and abandon his impending Baccalauréat exams, Réda is seething with anger and annoyance at his autocratic father, who similarly feels frustrated by his son’s wayward view of life, their emotional distance and dissonance aptly displayed by the father always speaking in Maghrebi Arabic and the son always responding in Provençal French, despite the fact that both understand each other’s mother tongue.

Le Grand Voyage is not, however, an examination of the dichotomies of the spoken word; indeed, very little is actually said between the men as they forge their way through passport controls, bustling city streets and empty autoroutes that stretch for mile upon mile upon mile into the never-ending distance. Rather, it is the somatic exploration of all that is unsaid, expressed so compellingly through the nuanced facial gestures and subtle physical postures of the two principal protagonists.

Moreover, the film becomes replete with meaningful symbolism, pointing towards elements and archetypes deep within the psyche, that only sequences with minimal dialogue are able to reveal: a silent old woman in a black burqa slipping onto the back seat and accompanying the men for many hours at the start of their trip representing, according to the director, the shadow side of human nature; the orange passenger door of the blue Peugot automobile emblematic of the father’s passionate Muslim faith in contradistinction to his son’s cool agnosticism and ennui; Réda often arousing from sleep and rubbing his eyes, metaphorical of the various states of human consciousness through which he must pass until his final awakening and rebirth.

One of my favourite scenes is a dream sequence in the Syrian desert, in which Réda sees his father dressed as a goatherd, shepherding his flock over the dunes. Réda calls out to him but is ignored and then, to his horror, is pulled deep down into the sand. As he flails about in utter panic, he abruptly wakes up to see his father kneeling in prayer, his palms in supplication to Allah. The portentous significance is understood when we see another herd of goats being driven through the streets of Mecca under the moonlight when their journey has come to an end.

Indeed, Le Grand Voyage is a love letter to all that lies beneath the surface of things—feeling and emotion, faith and silence, the very unifying substratum of life itself and what it means to be human, all set against a passing backdrop of stunning European and Middle-Eastern scenery: snowy mountains and sapphire skies, shimmering deserts and setting suns.

Upon reaching Saudi Arabia, in a deeply poignant moment, Réda and his father sit side by side leaning against the car and express how much they have learnt from their communal journey. They also meet fellow hajjis, sharing food and stories of their trips. Despite the fact that Réda’s heart is opening up to his father’s religion, whilst the pilgrims pray on their prayer mats, we feel deeply moved by his divided loyalties as he writes his girlfriend’s name, Lisa, in the sand with his shoes.

At last, Mecca is in their sights. The call of the muezzin hypnotizes us into a heightened anticipation and thrill of the unknown. The father prepares himself for Ihram [a sacred state which a Muslim must enter in order to perform the hajj by performing cleansing rituals and wearing prescribed attire] and leaves for his pilgrimage to the Kaaba, leaving Réda to sleep in the car. In rare footage of thousands of white-robed Muslims descending upon the Great Mosque of which the director was granted filming rights, I am reminded of the full moon pradakshina around Mount Arunachala, such is the sheer density of humanity paying their reverential respects.

Later that evening, the hajjis return but Réda’s father is missing. The following morning, he searches in vain amidst a heaving sea of devotees, growing forever more anxious and frantic, finally being restrained and removed by security guards and taken away to a quiet, secluded room whereupon he discovers his father’s fate.

The final scenes are utterly heartbreaking and yet if we understand the inherent message of the Islamic teaching, the father does indeed find the peace and spiritual release he has been searching for. Even more significantly, Réda is completely transformed by the events of the hajj whereby his character metamorphosizes from feeling resentful, irate and rebellious into being compassionate, forgiving and loyal.

Moreover, as Fowzi Guerdjou’s musical score swells acoustically, along with our tear ducts, I similarly feel profoundly transformed by this mystical adventure into the deepest recesses of the soul. As with any holy expedition, we are forced to face the darkness within ourselves in order to facilitate the light.

Le Grand Voyage is thus the ultimate journey, transcending cultural barriers and filial boundaries, even the beliefs of faith itself, leading us unto the universality of the human spirit and the unity of immortal love.

“Labbayka Allāhumma Labbayk. Here I am at Thy service O Lord.”

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The Prince's Voyage

An old prince runs aground on an unknown shore. Wounded and lost, he is found by young Tom and taken in by his parents, two researchers forced into exile ... The prince, guided by Tom, disco... Read all An old prince runs aground on an unknown shore. Wounded and lost, he is found by young Tom and taken in by his parents, two researchers forced into exile ... The prince, guided by Tom, discovers with enthusiasm and fascination a society that is however frozen and sclerotic . An old prince runs aground on an unknown shore. Wounded and lost, he is found by young Tom and taken in by his parents, two researchers forced into exile ... The prince, guided by Tom, discovers with enthusiasm and fascination a society that is however frozen and sclerotic .

• Jean-François Laguionie
• Xavier Picard
• Enrico Di Giovanni
• Thomas Sagols
• Gabriel Le Doze
• 1 User review
• 23 Critic reviews
• 1 win & 1 nomination

• (as Marie-Madeleine Burguet-Le Doze)
• Le Président
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Several references to Brittany in the film. The author of the book the Prince browses on his bed is breton, and Victor ABERVRACH the professor is named after the aber Vrac'h, an estuary in Finistère, Brittany.
• Connections Follows A Monkey's Tale (1999)

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• Runtime 1 hour 17 minutes

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Le Grand Voyage review – an incredible spectacle

A sweet-natured and affecting road movie about an elderly Moroccan exile in France who makes his son drive him on a 3,000 mile pilgrimage to Mecca

I smaël Ferroukhi’s first feature is a sweet-natured and affecting road movie about an elderly Moroccan exile in France forcing his irreligious younger son to drive him on a 3,000 mile Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. We don’t get offered many novel variations on this classic theme: no prizes for guessing if father and son have arguments but wind up treasuring each other.

But it is made notable and even remarkable for the unprecedented scenes at Mecca itself. Though documentarists have been permitted to shoot there in the past, this is the first time for a feature film, and Ferroukhi has his characters mingling with the pilgrims making the hajj - two million extras! It really is an incredible spectacle: an authentic religious phenomenon which is largely invisible and under-imagined in western culture. That extraordinary panorama of white-clad pilgrims crowding into the mosque’s inner terraces has not yet been rendered familiar as an image in the same way as, say, St Peter’s in Rome.

In some ways it is a pity that the scenes in Mecca do not occupy more of the film, yet without the long build-up, showing the feuding father and son driving through Europe and the Middle East, the final section wouldn’t count for as much. There are very good performances from Mohamed Majd and Nicolas Cazalé as father and son.

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Le Grand Voyage: An Insightful French Film

By: Author Jen Westmoreland Bouchard

In his directorial debut, Ismaël Ferroukhi give us the story of Reda ( Nicolas Cazalé ), a young man from the south of France who must accompany his conservative Muslim father (Mohamed Majd) on a pilgrimage to Mecca just weeks before his college entrance exams.  Together, they travel the 3,000-odd miles from the south of France , through Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan to Saudi Arabia, in their rusty blue car.

The title, “ Le Grand V oyage, ” (“the big trip”) sets the tone for a simple, touching tale in which the down-to-earth, linear plot line and limited dialogue provide the backdrop for complex and nuanced acting. Cazalé makes an impression with his portrayal of the frustrated, melancholy Reda.  With his furrowed brow and disinterested posture, he physically captures the essence of a sulky teen. Ferroukhi’s astute writing magnifies the ideological separation between the two characters: Reda: “Why didn’t you fly to Mecca? It’s a lot simpler.”

Father: “When the waters of the ocean rise to the heavens, they lose their bitterness to become pure again… “

Reda: “What?”

Father: “The ocean waters evaporate as they rise to the clouds. And as they evaporate they become fresh. That’s why it’s better to go on your pilgrimage on foot than on horseback, better on horseback than by car, better by car than by boat, better by boat than by plane.”

“ Le grand voyage ” beautifully depicts the delicate tensions between first and second-generation immigrants failing to accept each other’s value systems.  A Moroccan-born immigrant to France himself, Ferroukhi understands this dynamic and skillfully translates it to the screen.  On a global scale, the film provides a portrait of a Muslim family living in France that challenges and debunks certain myths regarding Islam, and underscores the similarities between father-son relationships that exist in all cultures.

The film is available with English subtitles on Netflix and other rental companies.

“ LE GRAND VOYAGE ” ( France , 2004) Running Time: 108 Minutes

Cast and Crew: Starring: Nicolas Cazalé as Réda Starring:  Mohamed Majd as The Father Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi Writer: Ismaël Ferroukhi Editor: Tina Baz Cinematography: Katell Dijan

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Qu'est-ce qui rend Berlin si spéciale ?

Posted: 21 avril 2024 | Last updated: 21 avril 2024

Berlin est l'une des villes les plus dynamiques, cosmopolites et multiculturelles d'Europe . Autrefois divisée, la capitale allemande accueille aujourd'hui des touristes du monde entier. Outre une collection passionnante d'attractions touristiques uniques et historiques, la ville est également connue pour l'organisation d'événements culturels prestigieux, comme le Festival international du film de Berlin, autrement appelé la Berlinale.

Cliquez sur ces images pour découvrir les secrets de Berlin !

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Organisé chaque année en février, la Berlinale met en compétition des films pour le très convoité ours d'or. Le Berlinale Palast est le lieu où se tiennent les avant-premières en compétition.

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Berlin n'attend plus que vous!

Que vous ayez envie d'un séjour placé sous le signe de la culture, ou de la fête (ou des deux), c'est à Berlin qu'il faut vous rendre pour vos prochaines vacances, tout en pratiquant les gestes barrières bien évidemment !

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