Why Watch? Because it’s the first science fiction film ever made. Co-writing with his brother Gaston, Georges Méliès produced, directed, and starred in this enduringly brilliant short that features clever innovations in special effects and a unique style created by blending live-action with a very specific type of animation. Most know that it was the inspiration for the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” music video (and my stalker knows it as the inspiration for one of my tattoos), but the most fascinating fact outside the film itself is that it was one of the earliest victims of film piracy. Méliès had already been making short films for years before A Trip to the Moon, and he saw the United States as a ticket to monetary success that would be cashed by this popular, science fiction dream. Unfortunately, Thomas Edison had his cronies make copies of the film in order to play it around the country – severely injuring Méliès’s ability to make money from his own work. The story and the story of Méliès’s life don’t have happy endings. Clearly, stealing movies is just as old as movies themselves. What does it cost? Just 10 minutes of your time. Check out A Trip to the Moon for yourself:

With a little less than a week to go until I land at Nice Airport and get the hugely unglamorous Hack Bus into Cannes along with my boys from ObsessedWithFilm.com to begin FSR’s official Cannes film festival 2011 coverage, now is surely a prudent time to offer my thoughts on the biggest and brightest films showing on the Croisette this year. You already know what films are showing, so I won’t exhaustively trawl back through the list, but I wanted to take the opportunity to announce what I am particularly excited about. This also gives me the opportunity post-festival to look back at happier, simpler times when my optimism at seeing four films a day wasn’t yet destroyed by watching three incredibly boring flicks in a row, followed by a blockbuster during which I fell asleep (as happened in 2009). Anyway, lesson learned, and this year I’ll be packing as many natural amphetamines as possible. If you’re heading out there look for me, I’ll be the guy with the grinding jaw, the sallow eyes and the notepad full of doodles/plans to change the future of cinema. So anyway, here’s what I’m looking forward to most.

The Cannes Film Festival is about far more than just the Competition titles, and the Cannes Classics line-up allows those willing to broaden their focus to experience often seminal works on the big-screen for the first time. Last year, I nearly got to see The African Queen for instance, but was sadly unable thanks to a clash in the chaotic screening schedule. This year, I’m determined to see at least one of the just-announced films in the line-up, and I shall not be thwarted. Unless there’s something, like really good on at the same time… Anyway, the official Cannes site has today released the Classics, and features some of the most important films in cinematic history, including the restored color version of Georges Méliès’ A Trip To The Moon, beefed up with a brand new soundtrack from French hipsters AIR, plus restored prints of A Clockwork Orange and special screenings of Bertolucci’s The Conformist and De Niro’s A Bronx Tale. That’s some line-up for what is usually considered only a tertiary concern out on the Croisette. The full line-up is as follows:

Now that everyone and their talking dog has seen Up, it’s time to look at its context within film history and in the legacy of Pixar.