Donna Bowman - French science fiction and comics

French science fiction is as old as the French language. Cyrano de Bergerac wrote about a trip to the moon that was published in 1657. So did Jules Verne in 1865, this time using hard scientific facts. Georges Méliès made the first movie showing a trip to the moon in 1902. In comics, Hergé had Tintin walk on the moon in 1954, 15 years before Armstrong. Artist Jean-Claude Mézières work was clearly the inspiration for many of the aliens and spaceships in George Lucas' Star Wars saga. These are just a few of many unique French contributions to science fiction that rightly deserves to be better known.

POW! features a dozen scholars from across Canada, the United States and France, discussing the role of science and fantasy in French science fiction, the influence of key authors in the genre's history, as well as the impact of films and graphic novels on the public perception of the genre's nature.

The event will be highlighted by a public, keynote lecture by the preeminent science fiction author from Québec, Élisabeth Vonarburg, to be delivered on Friday November 2nd at the Language Institute Rotunda, LI216, at 8 p.m.

Check out the poster for the conference here:

Intro animation by Gerald Saul.
Camera/Edit Rob Hillstead
Sound Jingyi Zhang
Post-sound Ruben Rojas Almendares