Senior Series - Documentary Screening – "Exposing Muybridge" (EVENT TAKES PLACE IN PLANETARIUM)

Happening in 19 days

September 25, 2026 · 1:00 PM · The Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Road, Reading · Guests of all ages welcome

Reading Public Museum|Berks County Events
Image for Senior Series - Documentary Screening – "Exposing Muybridge" (EVENT TAKES PLACE IN PLANETARIUM)

About the event

WhenSeptember 25, 2026 · 1:00 PM
WhereThe Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Road, Reading, Pennsylvania

The Reading Public Museum's Senior Series brings a documentary afternoon to the Neag Planetarium, with a screening of "Exposing Muybridge" on Friday, September 25, 2026, at 1:00 PM. The program is designed with older visitors in mind and adds background to the stories behind the Museum's own galleries, though guests of every age are welcome to settle in.

The film follows Eadweard Muybridge, the 19th century photographer whose sequential images of a galloping horse answered a long argued question about whether all four hooves leave the ground at once. Those pictures turned the camera into an instrument of remarkable perception and helped set the course for the birth of cinema. Director Marc Shaffer traces the full arc, from Muybridge's early work photographing conflicts in the American West to the moment a patron tried to claim credit for the breakthrough.

Historians, curators, and enthusiasts including actor Gary Oldman appear throughout, filling in little known details about one of the forerunners of motion pictures. The planetarium's dome setting makes for a comfortable place to watch, and the screening is a good fit for anyone drawn to photography, film history, or a good story from the past.

Official event page →

Hosted by Reading Public Museum on BerksConnect.

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