Spectacles de Curiousité

The first films made following the invention of cinema in late-nineteenth century France were of highly kinetic events — circuses, street performers and magic shows, which the French called spectacles de curiousité. As directorial techniques advanced, primitive special effects began to transform these documentaries into fictionalized stories. Professor of Film and Media Studies Colin Burnett screens examples of the rapid transformation of early films tonight in the program Spectacles de Curiousité. From the Lumière Brothers' everyday sights, such as a train pulling into a station (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat), to Georges Méliès' spectacular fantasia, A Trip to the Moon, film progressed dramatically in just seven years. Spectacles de Curiousité starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on the Washington University campus (1 Brookings Drive; www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu). Admission is free.