Born in Teruel, Spain, in 1871, Segundo de Chomón spent much of his youth in Barcelona, where he entered the emerging film industry at the beginning of the twentieth century. Initially renowned for his mastery of hand-colouring, he soon collaborated with Pathé as a cinematographer, director and pioneer of special effects. Between Barcelona and Paris, he developed groundbreaking techniques in stop-motion, substitution splices, double exposures and optical effects, creating landmark films such as Electric Hotel (1908) and Voyage sur Jupiter (1909). In 1912 he joined Itala Film in Turin, where he played a key role in Cabiria (1914) and contributed to La guerra e il sogno di Momi (1917), regarded as Italy’s first animated film. A lifelong innovator, Chomón continued experimenting with colour processes and visual effects throughout the 1920s. He died in Paris in 1929, leaving a legacy that established him as one of early cinema’s greatest technical innovators and visual magicians.