Film preservationist Céline Ruivo brings an eye for color and pre-cinema to her five early cinema picks for 1904. From scientific intent to fantasy, and industrialism and modernity in between, she demonstrates how an apparently unmemorable year like 1904 can still provide great insight into the art and technology of cinema at the time.

Céline holds a doctorate in cinema and teaches film preservation at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She is currently in charge of film restoration projects with two European cinémathèques and also directed the documentary Cinégraphies, les femmes de la tempête (2023).

Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your own top five for 1904!

Films and resources mentioned:

• Panorama of Machine Co. Aisle (1904) - Billy Bitzer
• The Flight of a Crane Fly (1904) - Lucien Bull
• The Impossible Voyage (1904) - Georges Méliès
• A Butterfly’s Metamorphosis (1904) - Gaston Velle
• The Strike (1904) - Ferdinand Zecca
• A Trip to the Moon (1902) - Georges Méliès
• The Great Train Robbery (1903) - Edwin S. Porter
• Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895) - Louis Lumière
• Alcohol and its Victims (1902) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Down in the Coal Mines (1905) - Ferdinand Zecca
• Le cinématographe des magiciens: 1896-1906, un cycle magique - Frédéric Tabet