Silver Terp Seminars: Early Cinema as New Media

Step back in time to the first decade of cinema with a fresh look at some of the earliest films, including the Edison Company production Life of an American Fireman (1903). In his engaging talk, Professor Jonathan Auerbach explores how this seminal movie experimented with time and space in unconventional ways, tracking men, machines, and horses as they move across streets, up ladders, down poles, and through doors and windows. Discover how this ambitious seven-minute film reimagines plot and action, creating a hybrid narrative that challenges our expectations about how films tell stories.