The Sarasota Film Festival opened last friday with its head in the stars......courtesy of the East Coast premiere of the Sundance Film Festival sleeper hit IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON. This dazzling documentary feature film, which won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Competition at Sundance, is a visually exhilirating account of the triumphs and tragedies of the Apollo space program, as recalled by the astronauts and technicians who made the giant leap into the next stage of exploration of the solar system.

When President John F. Kennedy made his famous declaration in 1961 that "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth" , he threw down the gauntlet for the role of the United States to be a leader in the worlds of science and inter-planetary exploration. That this was also a challenge to the Soviets, who had already launched the Sputnik rocket and a dog into outer space, is another sub-text from the Cold War era.

The film, which features never-before-seen footage that has been safeguarded in the NASA archives, tells the story of the national commitment to put a man on the Moon, as a unifying action to bring America together. That this occured in the 1960s, at the same time that the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement were dividing the country, makes it all the more poignant that the government planned to foster reconciliation by dabbling in the exploration of the cosmos.

With the exquisite and jaw-dropping film shot on the lunar surface as its central motif, the film features interviews with the Apollo astronauts who continue to define heroism and captivate our imaginations. As an added bonus, astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, will attend the screening, along with the film's director David Sington. The film screened at the Van Wenzel Performing Arts Center, with the Opening Night Gala to follow at the historic John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Sandy Mandelberger, Sarasota FF Online Dailies Editor


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