Come see for yourself the restored print of George Melies’ highly regarded example of early cinema, A Trip to Moon screening with a documentary about its restoration, The Extraordinary Voyage.
If you’ve been to see Martin Scorsese’s Hugo then you already know the importance of Melies’ fanciful 1902 production about a rocket ship flying to the moon and back. If you haven’t seen the highly acclaimed Academy Award nominated movie, or have never heard of Melies and his revelatory contributions to the advancement of cinema then that’s all the more reason you should see this special combo presentation. First the film in question itself, and then the film that covers the story of how it was rediscovered and restored to its original glory.
The restoration has received the honor of being named the National Society of Film Critics’ 2011 Best Film Restoration, and is presented in its fully restored original 1902 colors, making Méliès’ classic adventure tale as beautiful as it was in 1902. This restoration originally premiered at Cannes 2011 and was hailed by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott as “a cinematic highlight of the year, maybe the century.” Given the opportunity, how can you possibly miss out on that?
The accompanying documentary, The Extraordinary Voyage promises to be a fascinating chronicle of how the restoration came to be. It all began when film archivists Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange of Lobster Films acquired a severely damaged color print of A Trip to the Moon in 1999. They then began the tedious task of peeling off and unrolling the nitrate prints in order to digitize them. Then followed a two-year process of discovering the images on those fragments, only to have another eight-year wait for technology to catch up with the demands of the production. The film Includes interviews with many esteemed modern day filmmakers including Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing), Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The City of Lost Children, Amelie).
So come and see for yourself the production that marks George Méliès’ enduring significance to cinema. You’ll be disappointed if you don’t. Special amphitheater ticket prices will apply for this unique program, $10 for the General Public, $8 for Students & Seniors, and $7 for Members. For more information use the image above as a link to the Lincoln Center website.