Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès (1861–1938) was a French magician, illusionist, and director, one of the founding figures of cinema and the pioneer of cinematic special effects. After watching the Lumière brothers' first commercial Cinématographe screening in 1895, he constructed his own camera, built a glass-roofed studio outside Paris, and produced more than five hundred short films across the next two decades. His pioneering tricks — substitution splices, multiple exposures, hand-coloured frames — laid the foundations of cinematic fantasy. His acclaimed films include A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, The Kingdom of the Fairies, The Conquest of the Pole, and The Knight of the Snows.