The inherent loneliness of deep space exploration is the foundation of The Longest Goodbye, filmmaker Ido Mizrahy’s latest documentary. Particularly as it concerns NASA’s looming deadline to have a mission blast off to Mars by 2033, Mizrahy explores how technology can aid astronauts in maintaining vital connections—to friends, family and Earth itself—and what scientific advancements are being made to preserve the social and emotional well-being of these intrepid explorers. Cinematographer Boaz Freund, who’s previously collaborated with Mizrahy, tells Filmmaker about shooting in the vast Utah desert, making Mars a character in the film and working with colorist Marc Boucrot. See […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2023While the prospect of traveling on a years-long expedition to Mars might seem like an alien scenario to most, Ido Mizrahy’s documentary The Longest Goodbye argues that we may have more in common with deep space astronauts than we think. Especially in the wake of COVID, we all know the feeling of being indefinitely estranged from loved ones, with only the Internet to aid us in our human quest for connection. Filmmaker asked editor Anouk Deschênes to detail her process on this film, from signing onto the project to cutting the film’s most difficult scene. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2023Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Toward the end of our shoot, I was given the green light to conduct a 20 minute interview with astronaut Kayla Barron—one of our main subjects—while she was on the space station. I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous about an interview (also, it kinda felt like I was going to space). Following up on an interview I did […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 19, 2023With NASA under “presidential orders” to land humans on Mars by 2033—and the industry titans of Silicon Valley rushing to make space exploration sexy again (not to mention cash in on that lucrative action)—it might be a good time to stop and ask not when our long-mission astronauts will launch, but rather who should be going and how they will survive. And not just physical survival, but mental and emotional, for even the Trekkiest among us may give pause before signing up for a years-long journey that requires relentless isolation, being stripped of any semblance of privacy and deprived of […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 19, 2023