Film: EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE

Born Edward James Muggeridge in 1830 in England, Muybridge escaped a dreary life of lugging barges in his family’s business when, at 20, he set sail for the United States. Determined to become successful, he would try his hand at various professions, repeatedly changing his name along the way. After spending several years recuperating from a near-fatal stagecoach accident that left him brain damaged, he came to San Francisco with a new name and new career. Riding the crest of his popularity, Muybridge wed a beautiful woman half his age, but their marriage came to a melodramatic and spectacular end, and with it nearly Muybridge himself. Ever the survivor, Muybridge turned his attention to the work that would forever change the world: managing to coax his slow-moving, wet-plate cameras to move fast enough to capture running horses. These images were the first ever made of something moving faster than the human eye can see. In public lectures, the disheveled photographer with the flowing white beard would delight his audiences by projecting crude animations of his motion sequences, the first moving picture shows based on live action photography, and a giant leap towards the invention of cinema. [88 min; documentary; English]