If you are looking for an antidote to the pyrotechnics and computer generated effects of summer blockbusters, look no further than Segundo de Chomón‘s century-old films, which depict space travel using painstakingly handcrafted optical trickery.
Segundo’s 1908 film, Excursión a la luna, is actually a remake of Georges Melies’ A Trip to the Moon, made in 1902 and often credited as the first science fiction film. Segundo was one of the great special effects masters of the time, working largely in the fantasy genre, and he decided to try his hand at depicting space travel on screen:
His more magical realist space travel film, Voyage à la planète Jupiter, is also just over a century old, having made its US debut one hundred years ago today:
