(ASTRONAUT) STORY
East Side Story
(Astronaut) Story
Cosmonaut
Polyakov
Oh,
Adam
(ASTRONAUT(,) STORY
Documentary
(87’), 2003
PRESS
Cahiers du Cinema, France: “The film conveys the feeling of floating in endless space by the accuracy of details and the subtle restoration of the poetic enlightenment that guides this man. Nothing will distract from this framework reduced to a single image (the face) and a single sound (the voice), the bewitching soliloquy magnetizes its audience… Hypnotizing and original.”
Frankfurter
Allgemeine, Germany:
“All in one – film portrait and philosophical
reflection.”
Frankfurter
Rundschau, Germany:
“A film like a poem, a hommage to the unique sensitivity of
an exceptional human being.”
NRC Handelsblad,
Holland:
“It is the way the story is told that is inviting and the
kind of imagery the Romanian filmmaker Dana Ranga has found for
it.” Variety.com
“Intriguing profile of astronaut and polymath Story
Musgrave… “Story” has a wealth of
information.”
Der Standard,
Austria:
“Dana Ranga’s experimental film is the obsessive
portrait of the US-Astronaut, poet and physician Story Musgrave (what a
name!); it reminds the viewer of a science fiction film in spite of all
historical accuracy. Story flies around the Earth alone, like David
Bowie’s Major Tom and whispers about a life which has passed
from the dream of military conquest and American way of life to the
strongest image of all: a show case in the Museum of Natural History
– Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, Space man.”
Deutsche Welle
Radio,
World Service:
“ ‘Story’ is a cinematic poem about
astronauts and space flight, created from the highly original
perspec-tives of two poets: director Dana Ranga and the movie's
protagonist, Story Musgrave. You will not see even one rocket in this
movie - it goes much deeper than that, it doesn't remain on the surface
of this subject matter. It is a film about human strength, sensitivity
and wisdom - this is what made the miracle of space travel
possible.”
La Gazette,
France:
“Story, who calls himself a space person, is a poet. A sort
of brilliant Zen monk who has acquired degrees in all sorts of
imaginable fields, from computer programming and surgery to piloting
and history of art. He speaks about his life in space – about
his love story with space – but also about his
mother’s alcohol problem, about his father’s
violence and suicide and about his own pursuit of adventure, which has
led him out into the forest at night, as a four year old child, to
listen to
the whispering of the trees. ‘Story’, the soliloquy
of a marked man who speaks as if prompted by Faulkner, is not only an
American piece, but most of all – and like never before
– the proof for man’s future in
space.”
SYNOPSIS
(short)
Never before has an
astronaut spoken up - about
the tragedies of his
life,
about the psychological
accomplishments of man in
space, about love and
loneliness: Story Musgrave
invites us on a tumultuous
ride.
SYNOPSIS
(long)
Before he became an astronaut, Story Musgrave was a mathematician, a
chemist at Kodak, a trauma surgeon and a pilot, an
experimental parachutist and later a poet and holder of a degree in
literature. He has the longest career as an astronaut worldwide and he
flew into space 6 times. He went on his last mission in 1996, at age
61, to conduct several walks in space. He is a father of 7
children… What made this man start out on such a journey?
What fuelled his strength, his curiosity, his drive? What did he look
for
in space? What did he find there? For the first time, a space traveler
has decided
to speak up: about the way in which space changes
man, the way a man with an incomparable experience lives back on Earth.
Has Story Musgrave found his place? Can he ever find it again, after he
has cut his roots so radically? His tragic personal history, the
longing of his present life could show… Aesthetically
provocative (photographed by Hungarian cinematographer Francisco
Gozon), this psychological essay faces the viewer with
a spectacular character. A personal account about cosmic storms of
feeling and adventures of perception.
AWARDS
- Special Mention for
"Innovative
Documentary Film
Language", Marseille 2003
- Youth Jury Award, Leipzig 2003
- Gold Remi Award, Houston, 2004
- Audience Award,
Bad Aibling 2010
- Best Photography,
Bad Aibling 2010
CINEMAS,
MUSEUMS, CULTURAL CENTERS
- Romanian Cultural Institue, Berlin, Germany,
2003
- Thüringer
Dokumentarfilm-Tour,
Germany, 2004
-„L’inquietante etrangete de
l’etre“, by Documentaires
sur Grand Ecran, Paris,
France,
2006
-„Traces de pas“, workshop by
Kitsou Dubois, Cinema Bagnolet, France,
2006
- Orbitall, FEZ Berlin,
Germany,
2006
- Planetarium am Insulaner, Berlin, Germany,
2007
- Planetrarium Nürnberg,
2007
- Zeiss-Planetarium Jena, 2007
- Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2007
-„Stardust, Last Border“,
Museum
MAC/VAL,
Vitry-sur-Seine,
France,
2007
- Romanian Cultural Centre, London, 2008
-„L’Espace d’un instant“,
following a performance by
Kitsou Dubois, for Les
Hivernales, Villeneuve lez
Avignon, France, 2008
- Bibliotheque
Departementale de Pret des
Bouches-du-
Rhone, France, 2008
-„Top 10“ presented by Nikolaus
Geyrhalter at IDFA, Amsterdam, 2008
- Centre National des Arts du Cirque, presented by
Kitsou Dubois, Chalons, France,
2008
- Kommunales Kino Freiburg,
„Retrospektive in die
Zukunft“, 2009
- Filmhaus Nürnberg, "Projektion
Weltall", 2009
- Romanian Cultural Center, Stockholm, Sweden, 2009
TV
- Arte /France & Germany, 2004
- YLE / Finland, 2005
- Planete / Poland, 2005
- Arte / Cosmic Connection, a broadcast into deep
space, to Cepheus Gamma, 2006
- Rialto Channel /
New Zealand, 2008
- RAI / Italy, 2009
AVAILABLE IN
LIBRARIES
- Kosmopolis / CCCB Centre de Cultura
Contemporania de Barcelona, Spain
- Zentrale Landesbibliothek Berlin,
Germany
FESTIVALS IN
2003
- Leipzig Int. Documentary
Film Festival, Germany
- Sheffield Int. Documentary Festival, UK
- Vancouver Int. Film
Festival,
Canada
- Duisburger Filmwoche,
Germany
- Semarang Int. Film
Festival, Indonesia
- Amsterdam Shadow
Festival,
Holland
- Belfort, Festival du Film
Entrevues, France
FESTIVALS IN
2004
- Sao Paulo, It's All True,
Brasil
- Alba, Infinity, Italy
- Chicago Doc Film Festival, USA
- Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival,
Argentina
- Houston Worldfest, USA
- Jeonju Int. Film Festival,
South Korea
- Munich Int. Documentary
Film Festival, Germany
- Kampala, Amakula
Documentary Film Festival,
Uganda
- Barcelona, Kosmopolis,
Spain
- Cologne, Feminale,
Germany
- Ronda, Biennal of Scientific Film, Spain
FESTIVALS IN 2005
- Int. Literature Festival,
Berlin
- Vilnius Documentary Film Festival, Lithuania
The
World
- Premiere of STORY took
place at the International
Documentary Film
Festival in Marseille, on July 1st,
2003.
FESTIVALS IN 2010
- Nonfiktionale Bad Aibling
