Essential Films Essays

Before film existed, Émile Reynaud's The Steeple-Chase proved that animation could capture history itself. Created after the sport's French inauguration, this work demonstrates how moving images transcended mere curiosity to become 'a source of entertainment' through the 'ability to reproduce entertaining events.' By depicting 'actual sporting events in motion,' Reynaud revealed technology's profound power to reshape how audiences experience life.

"The rosette is magic in the sense that it resembles a flower, and yet, it acts as a star folding onto itself." Émile Reynaud's 1878 geometric masterpiece marked animation's first venture into abstract meaning, where "scientific knowledge" became "a passage towards fulfilment" through pulsing rings of divine light.

In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking work "Sallie Gardner at a Gallop" captured a horse in motion, challenging perceptions of reality and marking a pivotal moment in visual history. This experiment not only showcased the intersection of art and science but also laid the foundations for the film industry. As audiences witnessed what the human eye could not, Muybridge's images transformed our understanding of motion.