A TRIP TO THE MOON DEPARTS FROM CANNES

Tonight, the 2011 Cannes Film Festival will open the festivities with a screening of a color-restored version of the groundbreaking 1902 Georges Méliès’ film, A Trip to the Moon. The film is widely considered to be the first science-fiction film. Made in 1902 when McKinley was president of the United States and Émile Loubet was the French Pres, was silent and black and white. And it was only about 11 minutes long, and it is still better than almost any film made today. Although you could say, "Wow, they spent a whole lot of money to restore something that was perfectly fine in black and white," this will probably be the highlight of Cannes.