{"id":1818365,"date":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1818365"},"modified":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T21:00:00","slug":"lost-for-more-than-a-century-the-first-sci-fi-film-ever-made-resurfaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1818365","title":{"rendered":"Lost for More Than a Century, the First \u2018Sci-Fi\u2019 Film Ever Made Resurfaces"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content prose-colossal max-w-none\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-default entry-header is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"colo-post-featured-image wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1516\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/film.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"a film still of a magician and automaton\" style=\"object-fit:cover\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image courtesy of The Library of Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-title is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0bc941e6 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h1 class=\"alignfull wp-block-post-title\">Lost for More Than a Century, the First \u2018Sci-Fi\u2019 Film Ever Made Resurfaces<\/h1>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-meta is-layout-flex wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-10T15:38:43-05:00\">March 10, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-category wp-block-post-terms\"><a class=\"category-film\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/category\/film\/\" rel=\"tag\">Film<\/a><a class=\"category-history\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/category\/history\/\" rel=\"tag\">History<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/author\/gebert\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"wp-block-post-author-name__link\">Grace Ebert<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-share-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c531013 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing has-visible-labels has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-layout-flex wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-is-layout-flex\">\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-facebook has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2F2026%2F03%2Fgugusse-et-lautomate-georges-melies%2F&amp;title=Lost%20for%20More%20Than%20a%20Century%2C%20the%20First%20%26%238216%3BSci-Fi%27%20Film%20Ever%20Made%20Resurfaces\" aria-label=\"Share\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tShare\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-mail has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#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\" aria-label=\"Email\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tEmail\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><button class=\"simplefavorite-button preset\" data-postid=\"471012\" data-siteid=\"1\" data-groupid=\"1\" data-favoritecount=\"0\"><i class=\"sf-icon-bookmark\"><\/i>Bookmark<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Around 1897, the French director <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s<\/a> made a silent short film that, until last month, hadn\u2019t been publicly viewable for more than a century. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ojqcjzzjN2Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gugusse et l\u2019Automate<\/a>,\u201d or \u201cGugusse and the Automaton,\u201d is a 45-second slapstick piece featuring a magician and a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pierrot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pierrot<\/a>-styled robot as they duke it out. <\/p>\n<p>M\u00e9li\u00e8s is best known for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Trip_to_the_Moon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Trip to the Moon,<\/a>\u201d a short film from 1902 that famously features astromoners landing their capsule into the eye of the moon. The director\u2019s work is widely regarded as some of the first within fantasy and science fiction, with \u201cGugusse et l\u2019Automate\u201d being a long-lost addition to his canon.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>This film resurfaced recently when Bill McFarland drove from his Grand Rapids, Michigan-home to the Library\u2019s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, with a cache of reels that once belonged to his great-grandfather, William Delisle Frisbee. Passed down through the family, this collection was part of Frisbee\u2019s traveling showbusiness, in which he packed up his horse and buggy in western Pennsylvania and traveled to nearby towns to screen these early \u201cmoving pictures\u201d accompanied by music from a phonograph.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.loc.gov\/loc\/2026\/02\/lost-19th-century-film-by-melies-discovered-at-the-library\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the library<\/a>, McFarland\u2019s copy of \u201cGugusse et l\u2019Automate\u201d is \u201ca duplicate at least three times removed from the original. Library technicians spent more than a week scanning and stabilizing it onto a digital format, so that it can now be seen by anyone online\u2014in 4K, no less.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The collection also contained M\u00e9li\u00e8s\u2019 \u201cThe Fat and Lean Wrestling Match\u201d and parts of Thomas Edison\u2019s \u201cThe Burning Stable.\u201d See more of conservators\u2019 unraveling process on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVOrfufk_XL\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>. (via <a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/26\/03\/gugusse-and-the-automaton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kottke<\/a>)<\/p>\n<aside class=\"after-entry\" role=\"complementary\" aria-label=\"After Entry\">\n<section id=\"block-16\" class=\"widget widget_block widget_text\">\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:#88caf0\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><strong>Do stories and artists like this matter to you?<\/strong><\/mark> Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"block-17\" class=\"widget widget_block\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top member-benefits is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<ul 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href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/03\/british-wildlife-photography-awards-contest-winners\/\" rel=\"prev\">Next article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image courtesy of The Library of Congress Lost for More Than a Century, the First \u2018Sci-Fi\u2019 Film Ever Made Resurfaces March 10, 2026 FilmHistory Grace Ebert Share Email Bookmark Around 1897, the French director Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s made a silent short film that, until last month, hadn\u2019t been publicly viewable for more than a century. \u201cGugusse [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,270],"class_list":["post-1818365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-thisiscolossal-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1818365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1818365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1818365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1818365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}