https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730373/georges-melies-robot-film-1897-library-of-congress-gugusse-automate Accessibility links * Skip to main content * Keyboard shortcuts for audio player * Open Navigation Menu * NPR logo * * Newsletters * * NPR Shop * Close Navigation Menu * Home * News Expand/collapse submenu for News + National + World + Politics + Business + Health + Science + Climate + Race * Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture + Books + Movies + Television + Pop Culture + Food + Art & Design + Performing Arts + Life Kit + Gaming * Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music + The Best Music of 2025 + All Songs Considered + Tiny Desk + Music Features + Live Sessions * Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily + [morning-ed] Morning Edition + [we_otheren] Weekend Edition Saturday + [we_otheren] Weekend Edition Sunday + [all-things] All Things Considered + [up-first] Up First + [here_-_now] Here & Now + [podcast-po] NPR Politics Podcast Featured + [wait_wait-] Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! + [npr_fresha] Fresh Air + [tile-wild-] Wild Card with Rachel Martin + [ibam_tile-] It's Been a Minute + [pm_new_til] Planet Money + [logo] Get NPR+ + More Podcasts & Shows * Search * Newsletters * NPR Shop * * NPR Music NPR Music * The Best Music of 2025 * All Songs Considered * Tiny Desk * Music Features * Live Sessions * About NPR * Diversity * Support * Careers * Press * Ethics Long-lost Georges Melies robot film restored by Library of Congress A newly rediscovered 1897 short by famed French filmmaker Georges Melies is being hailed as the first-ever depiction of a robot in cinema. Culture Found: The 19th century silent film that first captured a robot attack February 28, 20264:31 PM ET Headshot of Chloe Veltman Chloe Veltman A screenshot from George Melies's Gugusse et l'Automate. The pioneering French filmmaker's 1897 short, which likely features the first known depiction of a robot on film, was thought lost until it was found among a box of old reels that had belonged to a family in Michigan and restored by the Library of Congress. A screenshot from George Melies's Gugusse et l'Automate. The pioneering French filmmaker's 1897 short, which likely features the first known depiction of a robot on film, was thought lost until it was found among a box of old reels that had belonged to a family in Michigan and restored by the Library of Congress. The Frisbee Collection/Library of Congress hide caption toggle caption The Frisbee Collection/Library of Congress The Library of Congress has found and restored a long-lost silent film by Georges Melies. The famed 19th century French filmmaker is best known for his groundbreaking 1902 science fiction adventure masterpiece Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon). The 45-second-long, one-reel short Gugusse et l'Automate - Gugusse and the Automaton - was made nearly 130 years ago. But the subject matter still feels timely. The film, which can be viewed on the Library of Congress' website, depicts a child-sized robot clown who grows to the size of an adult and then attacks a human clown with a stick. The human then decimates the machine with a hammer. Sponsor Message In an Instagram post, Library of Congress moving image curator Jason Evans Groth said the film represents, "probably the first instance of a robot ever captured in a moving image." (The word "robot" didn't appear until 1921, when Czech dramatist Karel Capek coined it in his science fiction play R.U.R..) "Today, many of us are worried about AI and robots," said archivist and filmmaker Rick Prelinger, in an email to NPR. "Well, people were thinking about robots in 1897. Very little is new." A long journey Groth said the film arrived in a box last September from a donor in Michigan, Bill McFarland. "Bill's great grandfather, William Frisbee, was a person who loved technology," Groth said. "And in the late 19th century, must have bought a projector and a bunch of films and decided to drive them around in his buggy to share them with folks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York." McFarland didn't know what was on the 10 rusty reels he dropped off at the Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Va. A Library article about the discovery describes the battered, pre-World War I artifacts as having been, "shuttled around from basements to barns to garages," and that they, "could no longer be safely run through a projector," owing to their delicate condition. "The nitrate film stock had crumbled to bits on some; other strips were stuck together," the article said. It was a lab technician in Michigan who suggested McFarland contact the Library of Congress. Sponsor Message "The moment we set our eyes on this box of film, we knew it was something special," said George Willeman, who heads up the Library's nitrate film vault, in the article. Willeman's team carefully inspected the trove of footage, which also contained another well-known Melies film, Nouvelles Luttes extravagantes (The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match) and parts of The Burning Stable, an early Thomas Edison work. With the help of an external expert, they identified the reel as having been created by Melies because it features a star painted on a pedestal in the center of the screen - the logo for Melies Star Film Company. A pioneering filmmaker Melies was one of the great pioneers of cinema. The scene in which a rocket lands playfully in the eye of Melies' anthropomorphic moon in Le Voyage dans la Lune is one of the most famous moments in cinematic history. And he helped to popularize such special effects as multiple exposures and time-lapse photography. This moment from George Melies' Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) is considered to be one of the most famous in cinematic history. This moment from George Melies' Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) is considered to be one of the most famous in cinematic history. George Melies/Public Domain hide caption toggle caption George Melies/Public Domain Presumed lost until the Library of Congress's discovery, Gugusse et L'Automate loomed large in the imaginations of science fiction and early cinema buffs for more than a century. In their 1977 book Things to Come: An Illustrated History of the Science Fiction Film, authors Douglas Menville and R. Reginald described Gugusse as possibly being, "the first true SF [science fiction] film." "While it may seem that no more discoveries remain to be made, that's not the case," said Prelinger of the work's reappearance. "Here's a genuine discovery from the early days of film that no one anticipated." Correction March 2, 2026 A previous photo caption misspelled the name of French filmmaker Georges Melies as George Meliere. * Library of Congress * Facebook * Flipboard * Email Read & Listen * Home * News * Culture * Music * Podcasts & Shows Connect * Newsletters * Facebook * Instagram * Press * Public Editor * Corrections * Transcripts * Contact & Help About NPR * Overview * Diversity * NPR Network * Accessibility * Ethics * Finances Get Involved * Support Public Radio * Sponsor NPR * NPR Careers * NPR Shop * NPR Extra * Terms of Use * Privacy * Your Privacy Choices * Text Only * Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor