2009 | 90 min | Kazakhstan, Romania, Russian Federation, Switzerland
Filmmaker in Person
How much does a dream cost? For Anoushesh Ansari, an Iranian American billionaire weaned on the glory days of American and Soviet space exploration, no price is too high. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, formerly secret installations are now open to the public with enough money to fund their space travel fantasies. In 2006, Ansari paid $20 million for her trip to the International Space Station. While she lives her dream high above the Earth, Magnum photographer Jonas Bendikson takes a ground tour of remote Kazakhstan where the shuttle launches are tracked by scrap metal scavengers and free-falling toxic rocket debris is cobbled together by farmers and shepherds for roofs, tools, and temporary shelters. By juxtaposing these parallel stories, filmmaker Christian Frei recasts the question: How much do such dreams cost the world?
Part of the series Dreams of Outer Space in conjunction with Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration
Co-presented by the Documentary Channel and the Consulate General of Switzerland
2010 | 87 min | Germany, Hungary
Filmmaker in Person | U.S. Premiere
When his capsule touched back to Earth, Bulgarian Aleksandr Aleksandrov was met with parades and songs and rewarded with a high-ranking position in the National Assembly. His acclaim was both intense and short-lived as part of the Soviet Union’s Intercosmos Program, which, between 1978 and 1988, sent 13 “space sailors” from Soviet-allied countries on highly publicized weeklong missions to outer space. Hailing from Afghanistan to Vietnam, each man became a state-sponsored emblem of the socialist ideal. However, when the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, “everything was swept away,” as filmmaker Marian Kiss notes, “including the heroes.” A Hungarian with fond memories of her country’s own space sailor, Kiss tracks down 10 of the travelers to find out where they landed after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
Part of the series Dreams of Outer Space in conjunction with Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration
Co-presented by the CEC Artslink
