John Lucas

Today is National Short Film Day, and while I’m pretty sure that “national” refers to the United States (the observance was started by the New York-based Film Movement), let’s not let that stop us from celebrating here in Canada. Or wherever you are as you read this.

Moreover, National Short Film Day was inspired by an event that happened in France. On December 28, 1896, Auguste and Louis Lumière held the world’s first paid public motion-picture exhibition. They screened 10 (very) short films, several of which you can watch below:

The Lumière brothers made their films using a cinematograph, a camera that also functioned as a film developer and a projector. One notable attendee at this first screening, held at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris, was Georges Méliès, who went on to become a pioneering filmmaker in his own right. Méliès made more than 500 films, but is probably best remembered for 1902’s A Trip to the Moon, inspired by the writings of Jules Verne.

In 1996, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris drew inspiration from A Trip to the Moon when they directed the video for the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight”. Trivia time: the video stars real-life married couple Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, who not only were castmates on Mr. Show, but also went on to voice SpongeBob and Karen Plankton, respectively, on SpongeBob SquarePants.

For the sake of comparison, here’s A Trip to the Moon itself: