Space Tourists

Space Tourists is a documentary film by Swiss director Christian Frei. He accompanies space tourists in their preparations into space and shows scrap collectors in the Kazakh steppe in search of high-quality rocket stages. The film premiered at the Zurich Film Festival 2009 and won the Sundance Film Festival 2010 the " World Cinema Directing Award".

Content

The film follows the first space tourist, American- Iranian dual citizen Anousheh Ansari, in the preparations for the flight into space. The trip will cost $ 20 million. In general, Ansari himself had recorded some videos that are seen in the film and talk about the almost unspectacular everyday life in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station. The film contrasts the world of these very wealthy space tourist to that of scrap metal collectors who are waiting in the Kazakh steppe in hazardous conditions until the rocket stages fall after the start of the sky. These are made of the highest quality, but also toxic materials and can resell. Also, the Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen has his say, who portrays these scrap collectors on the edge of the former Soviet Union for years over and over again. Humorous illuminates the film's theme of space tourism from different sides, he observed, for example, Charles Simonyi, the main developer of Word and Excel, the Space - training and the Taste of space-qualified food. And he accompanied the Romanian space enthusiasts Dumitru Popescu, who participates in the competition Google Lunar X Prize, which was awarded by the X Prize Foundation. This foundation in turn was founded by Anousheh Ansari. With stunning images, the film provides not only an insight into the modern space, but he is also a poetic declaration of love to the earth.

Reviews

" Christian Frei may be so close to the spaceman on like no one before him. The Swiss documentary never succeed seen footage. An impressive collage in poetic pictures full breadth and beauty. "

"So strange in detail, so seriously, Christian Frei's film in the fundamental. With Space Tourists, he shows the concrete example of the ambivalences and contradictions of a global world with super-rich space tourists on the one hand and poverty-stricken Kazakh farmers on the other side, the ruin when handling highly toxic konterminiertem space junk their health. "

" Space Tourists shows the new phenomenon of space tourism not as mere science fiction, but as a sign of our times. His protagonists could not be more different. But as with his portrait of the war photographer James Nachtwey in the Oscar nominated documentary War Photographer (CH 2001), succeeds Christian free to create a differentiated picture of all the main players. "

" Unobtrusive and without any comments ostensibly moral succeeds Christian Frei in this brilliantly assembled documentary to lead in spectacular images of the consequences of unbridled faith in technology in mind, while the basic virtue of cinema not for a moment lose sight of. Entertain "

Awards

  • DOC: The Documentary Channel 2012: Jury Prize "Best of Doc »
  • Cervino Mountain Cine International Mountain Film Festival 2011: Miglior Grand Prix dei Festival 2011
  • Beldocs Belgrade 2010: Best Photography Award
  • Mountain and Adventure Film Festival Graz 2010: Grand Prix Documentary Feature
  • Regio Fun Film Festival Katowice 2010: 2nd Award Documentary Film Competition
  • European Documentary Film Festival Oslo 2010: EURODOK Award
  • Sundance Film Festival Park City 2010: Best Director Award
  • EBS International Documentary Film Festival Seoul 2010: Special Jury Award
  • Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Toronto 2010: Special Screening
  • Swiss Film Prize 2010: Nominated for the Swiss Film Prize Quartz in the category " Best Documentary "
  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA 2009: Official Selection
2009 in film Film score Jan Garbarek Swiss Film Award
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