Agenda

A Trip to the Moon is based on two popular novels from that period: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells. The black-and-white science fiction film from 1902 has since become a canonical work. The French film was hugely popular upon its original release and used animation and visual effects that were very innovative at the time.

In Emmanuel Marre’s vérité film, not the filmmaker or his camcorder  dictate the mise-en-scène, but an alternating montage of Brussels-based parents styling their children’s hair with whatever they have at hand. Their direct but intimate instructions and the bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms that function as ephemeral hair salons sculpt the decor, rhythm, and imagery. 

Panning shots describe a room as a succession of still lives: a chair, some fruit on a table, a collection of solitary, waiting objects. Sitting on the bed, there is the presence of a young woman: Chantal Akerman, filmmaker herself, eating an apple.