A Trip to the Moon

A Trip to the Moon is where science fiction cinema effectively begins. Made by French filmmaker Georges Melies in 1902, its image of a rocket landing in the eye of a very unhappy looking moon face is one of the most reproduced images in all of film history, recognizable even to people who have never seen the actual film.

At around 13 to 16 minutes depending on the print, it is a quick watch, but a genuinely important one. Melies pioneered many of the special effects techniques, like stop motion substitution and hand painted color, that filmmakers would build on for decades. Its public domain status comes simply from its age, films from this era predate modern copyright terms entirely.