I literally just finished watching Contact a few hours ago but it has immediately struck a chord with me. Robert Zemeckis’ science-fiction epic also boasts one of the most cinematic opening sequences I’ve ever seen.

Beginning in space with an explosion of overlapping music as the sun shines over Earth, we slowly start to pull away further and further into the far reaches of our galaxy. The sound gets fainter and fainter and transforms from contemporary pop music to history’s earliest broadcasts then eventually fades away into complete silence. The camera keeps going, floating lightyears and lightyears away out of the solar system and into the infinite before finally pulling out of a glint in a little girl’s eye.

It’s a hypnotising and epic sequence that you can’t take your eyes away from for a second. The perfect opening to a film that all at once inspires wonder, mystery, and awe.