First on the Moon

ORIGINAL TITLE: PERVYE NA LUNE

2005, 2005, Russia, 75 min, mockumentary, b&w, 35mm

COUNTRY: Russia

PRODUCTION :

Kinokompaniya Strana

SYNOPSIS

The first Russian mockumentary is about a 1930s Soviet landing on the Moon. The film is not related to the actual Soviet Moonsoot program.

A group of journalists are investigating a highly secret document when they uncover a sensational story: that even before the Second World War, in 1938, the first rocket was made in the USSR and Soviet scientists were planning to send an orbiter to the moon and back. The evidence is convincing; it is clear that in this case, Soviet cosmonauts were first.

The cosmonaut space training was filmed in Chelyabinsk, at the Institute of Aviation, where there exists equipment from Star City which even Gagarin used for training. The actors worked without stunt doubles; they were really spinning in the centrifuge, despite the fact that this training is difficult even for professionals.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Venice Horizons Documentary Award 2005

CAST

Aleksey Anisimov, Viktoriya Ilyinskaya, Viktor Kotov, Andrey Osipov, Anatoliy Otradnov, Igor Sannikov, Aleksei Slavnin, Boris Vlasov

CREW

Director :

Alexey Fedorchenko

Screenplay : Aleksandr Gonorovskiy, Ramil Yamaleyev

Producers : Aleksey Fedorchenko, Dmitri Vorobyov