SCINEMA: MOON SHOTS

Arc marks the heavenly conjunction of 2009’s Scinema film festival, Science Week, The International Year of Astronomy and the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon,
with a look at films that capture the popular culture behind the science of the race into space in the 1960s.

Sat 25 July, 2pm & Thurs 30 July, 2pm (M)
Australia’s small but significant part in space science will be celebrated when veterans of CSIRO’s astronomy and space-tracking program join us for screenings of THE DISH (2000) and classic space and astronomy documentaries from the NFSA/CSIRO collection.

Sat 1 Aug, 4.30pm (15+)
Key feature films capture the fear and exhilaration of the era, including Robert Altman’s Countdown (1968) a terrifying “what if” prediction of the race for the moon with James Caan and Robert Duvall.

Thu 20 Aug, 7pm; Sun 23 Aug, 2pm (18+)
The Canberra premiere of Paper Soldier (2008), Russian director Alexsei German Jr’s Venice Film festival-winning look at the psyche and physical stresses of the Russian space program’s first efforts.

Wed 19 Aug, 6.30pm
Space cinematographer Dr. Mark T Lemon talks about the art and science of making movies for NASA in deep space and on Mars. Free!

Sat 15 August, 4.30pm Both films (G)
Space fact and science fantasy in the B-movie ravings of UNIVERSE (1960) and Phil (Robot Monster) Tucker’s THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS (1960)

In association with Scinema 09, the CSIRO and Cosmos Magazine.

THE DISH

Dir: Rob Sitch, Aust., 2000, 100 mins, 35mm, (M)

The Working Dog team's follow-up to The Castle celebrated Australia’s modest contribution to the first landing on the Moon. It’s an affectionate yarn of how Big American science collaborated with Australian common sense (and an ordinary country town) to capture Neil Armstrong’s first great step for Mankind. Staff from the CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Facilities section join us to talk about the science behind the story, and also to introduce Parkes Receiving (Aust. 1969, 22 mins): the original film on Australia’s NASA collaboration. In association with Scinema 09.

THE DISH

Dir: Rob Sitch, Aust., 2000, 100 mins, 35mm, (M)

The Working Dog team's follow-up to The Castle celebrated Australia’s modest contribution to the first landing on the Moon. It’s an affectionate yarn of how Big American science collaborated with Australian common sense (and an ordinary country town) to capture Neil Armstrong’s first great step for Mankind. Staff from the CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Facilities section join us to talk about the science behind the story, and also to introduce Parkes Receiving (Aust. 1969, 22 mins): the original film on Australia’s NASA collaboration. In association with Scinema 09.

COUNTDOWN

Dir: Robert Altman, USA, 1968, 101 mins, 35mm, (G)

Then TV director Robert Altman’s first theatrical feature was meant to be a studio ‘quickie’ that celebrated America’s Space-age ‘right stuff’. Instead Altman’s ‘What if…’ scenario is almost like a Combat movie: a nerve-wracking study of the psychological stakes involved in the space race. It’s dominated by the performances from the then oft-paired acting duo of Robert Duvall and James Caan, as astronauts fatigued, fatalistic but clear on their duty and destiny – as much to their ‘espirt de corps’ as to their country. Courtesy of the UCLA Film and TV Archive and presented with the support of the Embassy of the United States. In association with Scinema 09.

UNIVERSE and THE CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS

Science-fact and lunar B-fantasy from the beginning of the 1960s, exploring the angst and romance of space conquest. Roman Kroitor and Colin Low’s majestic space documentary Universe (Canada, 1960, 30 mins, 35mm) was acknowledged by Kubrick as an inspiration for the visual style of 2001: A Space Odyessy. Phil (Robot Monster) Tucker’s The Cape Canaveral Monsters (USA, 1960, 65 mins, 16mm) has potato-like aliens stitching human body parts together to stalk the U.S. space program, with only a couple of Young Scientists in Love to stop them. (Both films PG)

MARK T LEMON: MAKING SPACE MOVIES

Assoc. Professor at Texas A&M University’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Dr. Mark T Lemon worked with NASA to place cameras on the Phoenix Mars Lander, making him maybe the first filmmaker on Mars (that we know of). Dr. Lemon will talk to about the technicalities of filming on another planet, and share some of his home movies - some with budgets a few billion dollars higher than yours and mine. Presented in association with Scinema 09 and with support of Australian Government's National Science Week grants program. ENTRY FREE.

PAPER SOLDIER

(Bumazhnyy Soldat) Dir: Aleksei German Jr., Russia, 2008, 120 mins, 35mm, (unclassified 18+)

In 1961 the water-logged steppes of Kazakhstan (long a dumping ground for the Soviet Union’s dirty secrets) became a slapdash nerve-centre for the USSR’s space program. Genius engineers prepare the rockets, whilst the dashing medico Pokrovsky prepares the cosmonaut’s bodies and minds, suppressing his own nightmares of impending tragedy – and also of his murdered parents, victims of Stalinism. The visually stunning Venice prize-winner (from the son of one of Soviet cinema’s modern masters) brings the fatalism of Chekhov to a profound meditation on the Soviet Union’s lost ambitions and ideals. In association with Scinema 09.

MARK T LEMON: MAKING SPACE MOVIES

Assoc. Professor at Texas A&M University’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Dr. Mark T Lemon worked with NASA to place cameras on the Phoenix Mars Lander, making him maybe the first filmmaker on Mars (that we know of). Dr. Lemon will talk to about the technicalities of filming on another planet, and share some of his home movies - some with budgets a few billion dollars higher than yours and mine. Presented in association with Scinema 09 and with support of Australian Government's National Science Week grants program. ENTRY FREE.