Fantastic silent films + the best ambient electronic duo to come out of France. YES. Air takes on Le Voyage Dans La Lune.
More from NPR:
The French duo Air has written music for films before — its compositions appear in Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette — but never before had it composed music for anything as classic and internationally treasured as French filmmaker Georges Méliès’ groundbreaking 1902 film Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon).
The innovative silent film was the first movie in the science-fiction genre, and used ingenious special effects to re-create a fantastical trip to the moon and back. Originally released in black and white, a rare hand-colored version of the film was discovered in Barcelona in 1993. Restoration work was completed earlier this year.
With that version of the film fully restored, Air’s Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel were asked to write a new, modern score.
