Slow MoverApr 14

A Trip to the Moon

History, Artemis, and Humanity’s Space Junk

There is something almost innocent, at first glance, about Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon. The painted sets, the theatrical gestures, the famous image of the capsule lodged in the eye of the moon — all of it feels whimsical, handmade, full of wonder. It bears the marks of ingenuity in their freshest form. Cinema is still young. Imagination is learning what machinery can do. Human beings are discovering that they can build not only devices, but dreams.

And yet, to watch the film closely is to feel a disturbance beneath the delight.

The voyage is not simply a journey. It is an invasion. The moon is not approached with humility or reverence, but penetrated, subdued, and turned into a stage for conquest. The lunar beings are encountered not as neighbors in wonder but as hostile “natives,” there to be struck, shattered, and overcome. The travelers return not merely with experience, but with a captive and a triumphal procession. What looks at first like fantasy reveals itself as a little parable of empire.

That is why the film still matters. It is not only an early science-fiction spectacle. It is an early warning.

Read the full essay at PeaceGrooves.

#ATripToTheMoon #Artemis #colonialism #Conquest #culturalCritique #EarlyCinema #Empire #FearOfTheUnknown #FilmReflection #HonoringMystery #humanNature #Lament #Modernity #MoonRace #Moonfall #moralImagination #mystery #Otherness #propheticReflection #Racism #Reverence #scienceFiction #SpaceExploration #StarsAndEmpire #TechnologyAndEthics #Violence #Wonder
BrewminateApr 5

🎥 The first copyrighted motion picture in 1893 wasn’t just a technical milestone—it marked the moment film became something to own, protect, and build an industry around.

The real identity behind it is more interesting than most people expect. 👀

#FilmHistory #EarlyCinema #Brewminate

https://brewminate.com/first-copyrighted-motion-picture-1893/

First Copyrighted Motion Picture 1893

Discover the identity of the first copyrighted motion picture in 1893 and how early film pioneers shaped the birth of cinema and copyright law.

Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas
Show threadOf Bookish ThingsMar 2

@AlterNewt @edwilk

First Film to Depict a #Robot Discovered in Michigan
Created in #Movie_1897, it's over two decades older than the term "robot."
#EarlyCinema #ScienceFiction #GeorgesMéliès #Slapstick #LibraryofCongress #LostFilm

https://gizmodo.com/first-film-to-depict-a-robot-discovered-in-michigan-2000727995

First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan

Created in 1897, it's over two decades older than the term "robot."

Gizmodo
French Cinema & SubtitlesJan 21

🎞️ In remembrance of Georges Méliès (1861–1938), pioneer of cinema.

A French filmmaker and illusionist, he revolutionised early film with innovative visual effects and narrative techniques. Méliès built France’s first film studio and created nearly 600 films in fantasy, science fiction, and historical genres. His complete body of work has been in the public domain since 2009.

#GeorgesMéliès
#FilmHistory
#EarlyCinema
#SilentFilm
#CinemaPioneers
#FilmHeritage
#PublicDomain
#FrenchCinema

Show threadDAVIFOct 28, 2025

Passend dazu eröffnet am Freitag die von Gerlinde Waz gemeinsam mit Kristina Jaspers und Philipp Stiasny kuratierte Retrospektive "Filmpionierinnen!" im Zeughauskino in Berlin!

Die Retrospektive widmet sich dem Filmschaffen von Regisseurinnen in Deutschland von 1917 bis 1932 und bringt einige Werke erstmals wieder auf die Leinwand.

https://www.dhm.de/zeughauskino/filmreihe/filmpionierinnen/

📆 Freitag, 31.10.2025
⌚ 19 Uhr

#WomenFilmPioneers #FeministFilmHistory #SilentFilm #EarlyCinema #FrauenUndFilm

Filmpionierinnen!

Kurz, frech und kreativ

Zeughauskino
Show threadDAVIFOct 28, 2025

Mitte der 1990er führten Gerlinde Waz & Gabriele Hansch die bahnbrechende Studie “Filmpionierinnen in Deutschland” durch, in der sie die Rolle von Frauen in der Stummfilmzeit erforschten. Die Projektergebnisse konnten bis heute nicht veröffentlicht werden. Nur ein Teil wurde durch das Projekt f_films zugänglich gemacht. In diesem Interview reflektiert Gerlinde Waz über ihren Forschungsprozess.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17234510

#DigitalFilmHistory #FeministFilmHistory #EarlyCinema #DH #WomenFilmPioneers

Die Sichtbarkeit von Frauen im frühen Kino. Interview mit Gerlinde Waz

Von 1988 bis 1994 führte Gerlinde Waz gemeinsam mit Gabriele Hansch die Studie “Filmpionierinnen in Deutschland” durch, in der sie die Rolle von Frauen in der Stummfilmzeit in Deutschland erforschten und damit den Grundstein für deren heutige Sichtbarkeit legten. Aufgrund mangelnder Förderung konnten die Projektergebnisse jedoch bis heute nicht veröffentlicht werden. Ein Teil der Daten wurde Anfang der 2000er Jahre durch das Projekt f_films aufgekauft, ergänzt und öffentlich verfügbar gemacht. In diesem Interview reflektiert Gerlinde Waz über ihren Forschungsprozess und beschreibt die umfangreichen und aufwendigen Archivrecherchen, die dafür erforderlich waren. Außerdem geht sie auf die methodologischen Herausforderungen biografischer Forschung ein, denkt kritisch über den klassischen Kanon der Filmgeschichte nach, in dem Frauen häufig unerwähnt bleiben und erläutert ihren Umgang mit Unsicherheiten im Rahmen der Studie. Das Interview ist Teil einer fortlaufenden Interviewreihe zu Datenpraktiken, Datenprovenienz und Kategorisierungen in der Filmgeschichte, die von der BMFTR-Forschungsgruppe „Ästhetiken des Zugangs. Datenvisualisierungen in der digitalen Filmgeschichtsschreibung am Beispiel der Forschung zu Frauen im Frühen Kino“ (DAVIF) (2021–2025) initiiert wurde. Ziel der Forschungsgruppe ist es, Datenvisualisierungen zu erstellen, um die Tätigkeiten von Frauen in der Filmgeschichte sichtbarer zu machen. Die Interviewsammlung: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17233942  Zur Projektwebsite: https://uni-marburg.de/Q85oo 

Zenodo
Show threadDAVIFOct 27, 2025

In the early 2000s, Kerstin Herlt managed the pioneering f_films project, which aimed to document the contributions of female filmmakers to European cinema. In this interview, she recalls the project's history. While some of the results were later added to the DFF database, others are only accessible via the project website, which is no longer updated and therefore somewhat hidden.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17234382

#DigitalFilmHistory #FeministFilmHistory #DH #DFF #EarlyCinema #Metadata #FilmHistory

Show threadDAVIFOct 27, 2025

Anfang der 2000er Jahre leitete Kerstin Herlt das wegweisende Projekt f_films und gibt in diesem Interview Einblick in seine Entstehung und Umsetzung. Das Ziel des frühen digitalen Projekts war die Dokumentation und Sichtbarmachung von Filmemacherinnen des europäischen Kinos, wobei ein Teil der im Projekt erstellten Daten in die Datenbank des DFF eingespeist wurde.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17234348

#DigitalFilmHistory #FeministFilmHistory #DH #DFF #EarlyCinema #Metadata #FilmHistory #DigitalHumanities

Show threadDAVIFOct 22, 2025

Kate Saccone has served as a project manager for the Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) since 2013. In her interview, she talks about the origins, community, and editorial practices of the WFPP and addresses the platform's role as a social networking space for feminist film historians. She also outlines the WFPP's strategies for long-term preservation and accessibility.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17234442

#FeministFilmHistory #WFPP #DigitalScholarlyPublishing #Metadata #EarlyCinema #DH #DataPractices

On the Origins, the Community, and the Database of the Women Film Pioneers Project. Interview with Kate Saccone

In this interview, Kate Saccone, project manager of the Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) since 2013, reflects on the origins, the community, and the database of the WFPP. She highlights the role of the WFPP as a digital platform for research and publication. The interview discusses the handling of gaps, ambiguities, and absences in the data, accessibility, licensing, and long-term preservation of digital content, particularly with regard to Creative Commons licenses and technical infrastructure. Saccone addresses the WFPP as a social networking space for feminist film historians and outlines future developments for the project. The interview is part of an interview series on data practices, provenance, and categorizations in film history initiated by the research group „Aesthetics of Access. Visualizing Research Data on Women in Film History“ (DAVIF) (2021–2025), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The goal of the research group is to explore data visualizations in order to tell different stories differently. The WFPP is one of the film historiographical project partners, in addition to the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (DFF), both of whom have provided their research data for data visualizations. The interview series: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17233942 The project website: https://uni-marburg.de/Q85oo

Zenodo
Show threadDAVIFOct 21, 2025

In the early 1990s, renowned film scholar Jane Gaines founded the Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP), a digital scholarly resource dedicated to women’s involvement in film production during the silent film era. In this interview, she reflects on the impact of the WFPP on her own research at the intersection of empirical approaches and speculative historiography.

The interview: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17234308

The WFPP: https://wfpp.columbia.edu/

#FeministFilmHistory #WFPP #EarlyCinema #Metadata #DH

The Development of the Women Film Pioneers Project and its Role in Shaping Feminist Film Historiography. Interview with Jane Gaines

In this interview, Jane Gaines, professor of film studies and co-founder of the Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP), revisits the development of the WFPP in the early 1990s. Drawing on the term “unhistoricized women film pioneers”, she dives into the invisible aspects of film historiography and how the WFPP addresses these gaps by drawing attention to the diverse careers of women in early cinema. She outlines the organizational structure of the WFPP, including the importance of technical support from Columbia University and the international collaborations with students and scholars. Gaines reflects on the impact of the WFPP onher own research at the intersection of empirical approaches and speculative historiography. Furthermore, she emphasizes the WFPP’s role in shaping feminist film historiographyby focusing on outreach and recognition of marginalized filmmakers. The interview is part of an interview series on data practices, provenance, and categorizations in film history initiated by the research group „Aesthetics of Access. Visualizing Research Data on Women in Film History“ (DAVIF) (2021–2025), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The goal of the research group is to explore data visualizations in order to tell different stories differently. The WFPP is one of the film historiographical project partners, in addition to the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum (DFF), both of whom have provided their research data for data visualizations. The interview series: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17233942 The project website: https://uni-marburg.de/Q85oo

Zenodo