First screening and presentation: 4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. PT
Second screening and presentation: 7:00 p.m. - 9:15 p.m. PT

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On a balmy June morning in 1878, photographer Eadweard Muybridge famously captured the airborne gait of a prized trotting horse at Leland Stanford’s stock farm in Palo Alto, California. Muybridge’s long and complicated history with Stanford, including experiments documenting animals in motion that set the stage for the motion picture a decade later, are only part of the story of this fascinating man, one filled with ambition, betrayal, deception, and even murder.

Director Marc Shaffer’s Exposing Muybridge presents the first full documentary treatment of Muybridge’s life, one that has been hailed as “one of the best films on photography ever made” (TechRadar). While Muybridge’s motion images indeed opened our eyes to invisible worlds, they also harbor secrets that provoke an enduring question: Can we believe what we see in a photograph?

Colorful interviews with scholars, photographers, and experts – including Stanford historian emeritus Richard White and Muybridge collector Gary Oldman – bring Muybridge to life while featuring hundreds of his landscape and motion photographs, many from Cantor Arts Center and Stanford Libraries collections.

There will be two screenings of the film followed by conversations with director Marc Shaffer and other scholars to discuss Muybridge’s legacy as a technological disruptor in the arts and sciences. The first session will feature Corey Keller, former photography curator at SFMOMA and an advisor to the film, and Scott Delp, Stanford professor of bioengineering and the 2021 recipient of the Muybridge Award. The second session will feature Corey Keller and Ryan Coffee, senior staff scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Tickets are limited. SHS members will have priority. An email with a pre-sale promo code was sent to SHS members. The pre-sale promo code will waive the ticket price ($25 each and up to 6 tickets) and all processing charges. *Pre-sale of complimentary tickets has ended.

Regular tickets will be on sale beginning Friday, March 10.
4PM Session
7PM session

See the trailer of the film

About Marc Shaffer:
Marc Shaffer is the director, writer, and producer of Exposing Muybridge. A longtime documentary filmmaker and journalist, he founded and runs the non-profit production company Inside Out Media in Oakland, California. For more than two decades, he has created films on a range of political and social issues and on history and culture. His films have screened widely in the United States and around the world on television, digital platforms, and in festivals and theaters. Shaffer was awarded the 2022 Writers Guild Award for his screenplay Exposing Muybridge. His films have received three nominations for the Emmy Award, seven Cine Golden Eagle awards, the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, and many other honors.

Co-Presenters (from Stanford University):
The Bill Lane Center for the American West
Stanford Historical Society
Cantor Arts Center
Stanford Libraries
Department of Communication
Department of Art & Art History