(First Man | Photo courtesy of Tower Theatre)

 On Saturday, July 20 at 8pm the nonprofit Tower Theatre Foundation invites you to come celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a double-feature extravaganza. We’ll begin with George Méliès’s short, silent film A Trip to the Moon with live accompaniment by keyboardist, Christopher Kuter, followed by a screening of Damien Chazelle’s First Man featuring Ryan Gosling.

A Trip to the Moon is a 1902 French adventure film directed by Georges Méliès and inspired by Jules Verne’s novels. The film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the moon’s surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants named for the Greek moon goddess Selene), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. It features an ensemble of French performers, led by Méliès himself in the main role of Professor Barbenfouillis, and is filmed in the overtly theatrical style for which Méliès became famous. Though Méliès”s films were silent, they were not intended to be seen silently. In that spirit, the Tower Foundation commissioned Box Office Manager and local musician, Christopher Kuter, to create and provide original keyboard accompaniment for this screening.

First Man is a 2018 biographical film directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen, the drama stars Ryan Gosling as Armstrong, alongside Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler and Lukas Haas. It follows the years leading up to the July 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. Chazelle stated, “This was also a story about grief, about someone who lost a lot of people he loved, and what those losses did to him. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon.”

Trip to the Moon
Unrated; 18 minutes
First Man – PG13; 140 minutes
Saturday, July 20 | 8pm

towertheatre.org • 541-317-0700