What 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès features a trip to the moon?

The 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès that features a trip to the Moon is “A Trip to the Moon.” Its original French title is “Le Voyage dans la Lune,” and Méliès wrote, directed and produced the film for his Star Film Company.

The story follows astronomers who build a cannon-propelled capsule and launch it toward the Moon. After the capsule famously strikes the Moon in the eye, the explorers encounter strange lunar landscapes and Selenites before returning to Earth.

Méliès drew inspiration from Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon” and “Around the Moon,” along with other imaginative science-fiction ideas of the period. He played Professor Barbenfouillis, the expedition’s leader, and used theatrical design, painted scenery, substitution effects and multiple exposures to create its fantasy world.

The film was completed in August 1902 and sold in both black-and-white and hand-coloured prints. It later disappeared from view for decades, but restorations—including a major hand-colour restoration completed in 2011—helped return it to audiences.