A Trip to the Moon

A 1902 silent science-fiction adventure trick film written, directed and produced by Georges Méliès, A Trip to the Moon follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Méliès leads an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers as the main character Professor Barbenfouillis. The film was inspired by Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870), and is considered one of the most iconic and influential images in cinema history, featuring a moment when the capsule lands in the moon's eye.