List of actuality films by Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès (1861–1938), a French filmmaker and magician, made a variety of short actuality films between 1896 and 1900.

Méliès was established as a magician with his own theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, when he attended the celebrated first public demonstration of the Lumière Brothers' Kinetoscope in December 1895.

[1] Meanwhile, Méliès studied the principles on which Paul's projector ran, and in 1896 was able to modify the machine so that it could be used as a makeshift camera.

[2] At first, Méliès followed the custom of the time, and the example memorably set by the pioneering Lumières, by producing actuality films—brief "slice of life" incidents made by preparing naturalistic scenes for the camera or by filming events of the day.

[8] In an advertisement, Méliès proudly described the difference between his innovative theatrical films and the actualities still being made by his contemporaries: "these fantastic and artistic films reproduce stage scenes and create a new genre entirely different from the ordinary cinematographic views of real people and real streets.

Georges Méliès
Méliès (third from left) and friends in film 1
Edison panoramic film of the Place de l'Opéra in 1900, shortly after it was featured in films 10 , 17 , and 139
Postcard of the Boulevard des Italiens , the location for films 18 and 85
An 1886 Van Gogh view of the Bois de Boulogne , where films 20 , 21 , and 50 were made
The beach at Trouville-sur-Mer , around the time of films 30 through 33
Page from the flipbook of film 35
Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II of Russia , shortly before their visit to France documented in films 48 and 50
A steam-powered threshing machine ; Méliès showed one in film 65
Drawings of the 1897 Mid-Lent parade shown in film 97–98
Students at the École de Joinville, around the time Méliès made films 136 and 148 there
Frame from film 151
Grave of Félix Faure : Méliès showed the funeral procession in film 173–174
The Exposition Universelle , featured in films 232–233 and 245–261