From the Earth to the Moon

Jules Verne’s classic novel “From the Earth to the Moon” served as a model for the director and painter Angelos Spartalis with the first Greek animated feature film. It is also the first, apart from George Méliès’ “Le Voyage dans la Lune” in 1902, that is, “pure” animated adaptation of the French classic.
The story is set in 1868. We accompany the three leading characters, Barbicane, Nicholl and Ardan, in their attempts to launch themselves to the moon in a huge cannonball. All three protagonists are antipodes: Barbicane and Nicholl stood on opposite sides in the preceding American Civil War, and Ardan is a French braggart, full of self-importance. The project is proposed by Barbicane, namely the President of the Gun Club, a society of weapons aficionados who have profited from the American Civil War. The Club personifies a persiflage on the American zeal for weapons.
Spartalis’ work illustrates Verne’s generation and its belief in the future, as well as their simultaneous fear of the possible derailment of modernity. Using anachronistic quotations and allusions, the film follows their preparations until the capsule is fired into space on 1 December, 1868.
The visual effects of the film were inspired by steampunk, which combines modern sci-fi elements with Victorian chic. Steampunk represents retro-futurism, which portrays the future as seen from the past, and is an ideal means for depicting Jules Verne’s science fiction in a current context. Angelo Spartalis, who has a degree in aeronautics, animated the film by means of collage and shadow theatre techniques. (pe)