Yambo on the Moon of Verne and Méliès. From “La colonia lunare" to “Un matrimonio interplanetario"

This comparative study is the result of the analysis of the cooperation between a man of letters and an illustrator, at the beginning of the 20th century: in 1908, Enrico Novelli, aka Yambo, released "La colonia lunare" ("The Moon Colony"). Among futuristic aerospace inventions and the detailed description of a lunar city, Yambo imagines optical machines and the evolutions of cinematograph as the coeval symbol of modernity. Yambo directs for Latium film, a production in Rome, a film entitled "Un matrimonio interplanetario" ("Marriage on the Moon") in 1910. This film, fully preserved, anticipates some elements of the Futurist cinema manifesto. It is no coincidence that Florentine Yambo attends the Futurist circle from the outset, creating a bridge between the children’s fiction of the early 20th century and the revolutionary Futurist movement. Keywords: Yambo, Novelli, Children’s Fiction, Futurism, Early Italian Cinema