Russia releases first film shot in space to glorify its cosmonauts

First live-action feature film shot in orbit opens in theaters Thursday Russiamaking Moscow proud for preempting a rival United States project in the midst of a diplomatic crisis over the conflict in Ukraine.

roll”Competitionwhich tells the story of a surgeon sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to operate on astronaut wounded, Russia sent the actress and director into orbit in October 2021 for 12 days.

The project, implemented quickly to outpace a US initiative led by Tom Cruise, has become Moscow’s pride in a Cold War-like space rivalry with Washington.

“We were the first to shoot a feature film aboard a spacecraft in orbit, the first again,” congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 12, who likes to remember that Moscow sent the first man into space in 1961.

In Moscow, several people walk in front of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that brought the film crew to Earth and is now on display in the famous Gorky Park.

“We are proud of our Russian actors,” says Polina Andreeva, Marketing Specialist.

“It is very interesting to see how our city develops, that it was the first to shoot a film in space,” adds Tatyana Kulikova, an employee of the company.

“Are Russia, Russia he is always ahead,” he insists.

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If this feature film has received so much praise, it is also because Russia It has been mired in a deep diplomatic crisis with the West since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.

The United States and European countries have imposed a series of diplomatic and economic sanctions against Russia.

The space sector seems to be one of the last areas of cooperation between Russians and Westerners at the moment, although the rivalry between the two is fierce, especially after the rise of private companies such as Elon Musk’s American SpaceX.

“Competition» co-produced by the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos and TV company “Channel One”.

“We are all fans of Gravity, a Hollywood movie about space released in 2013,” Channel One head Konstantin Ernst said on Monday.

‘But ours’Trial”filmed in real weightlessness shows it was just special effects in an American movie,” he said.

The shots taken in 230 m3 of the Russian module of the ISS and the participation of three Russian professional cosmonauts on the station give the film an effect of authenticity.

Director Klim Chipenko, 39, who was in charge of camera, lighting and sound, recorded 30 hours of footage, of which 50 minutes were used for final editing.

The camera follows 38-year-old actress Yulia Peresild, one of the most glamorous translators Russiamoving in this small space.

Both the director and translator went through four months of accelerated training before being sent into space. (AFP)

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