A Cosmic Voyage: dir Vasilij Zuravlëv (1936)

This Soviet-era silent film was one of the earliest to represent a realistic spaceflight, including weightlessness. It’s pitched in the year 1946, with Professor Sedikh, who is planning to lead the first crewed exploration to the Moon, denounced by a rival as being too old and too mentally unstable for the mission. Aided by his assistants Marina and Andryusha, Sedikh makes the journey anyway – with a successful landing, a few adventures on the Moon, and a triumphant return to Moscow. The last Soviet silent feature to be made – it was produced at a time when talkies had become firmly established – A Cosmic Voyage deploys elaborate special effects that are especially convincing for the lunar expedition.

Screens as part of Sharjah Art Foundation’s Sunday Cinema Club – a free film followed by a talk or a workshop, 3pm each Sunday from 5 July to 30 Aug at the Photography Gallery in Al Manakh. Films are child-friendly animations (5–19 July), pioneering science fiction (26 July–9 Aug), or “significant works of Arab cinema” (16-20 Aug).