28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
The Court Martial at Rennes
director: Georges Méliès
original title: Affaire Dreyfus, le conseil de guerre en séance à Rennes
country: France
year: 1899
running time: 2 min.
synopsis
This last surviving episode is the longest and is an attempt at the most rigorous historical accuracy, which can only be understood with the help of the accompanying commentary, without which we only see the tribunal sitting in the background of the previous episode. The scene itself is almost motionless for two minutes, so the only clue is the description of the action, which we do not see. It is interesting to note that Dreyfus was not rehabilitated until 1906 (he was pardoned in the same year of the filming), and thus Georges Méliès wanted to contribute to his defence with this multi-part film.biography
Georges Méliès (1861-1938) is one of the first independent film directors whose work crystalised the early film genres. He worked on fantasy scenes, adaptations of literary works, fairy tales, as well as socio-critical and political films. His documentary filmmaking is less well known, as a lot of it has not been preserved.more about film
| director: | Georges Méliès |
