Apollo 11 IMAX documentary to include newly uncovered 65mm Panavision footage

[gary]

David Kamp reports today in Variety on a 90 minute documentary entitled
"Apollo 11" by film maker Todd Douglas Miller which will have its
debut at the Sundance Film Festival this coming January.

Miller had contacted Dan Rooney, a film and video archivist at the
US National Archives and Records Administration.



When they first viewed the 65mm footage, shot during the lead-up to
launch, their jaws dropped. It has now been transferred to digital.



Story here :-
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/apollo-11-50th-year-anniversary

[Kunama]

Thanks for posting this Gary:thumbsup:

[gary]

The trailer came out three days ago and the 70mm footage that was shot
on the day of the launch and which was only recently "discovered"
is looking breathtaking.

https://youtu.be/K5JtxB8KVm0

[Zubenel]

Looks Truely Epic :eyepop::anaut:

[pfitzgerald]

Can't wait!

[JeniSkunk]

APOLLO 11 Movie website (https://www.apollo11movie.com)
APOLLO 11 Official Teaser (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKM8YpTmVw) and Official Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co8Z8BQgWc) from NEON, on Youtube.

Really looking forwards to seeing this.
I still remember seeing the Space Shuttle stuff at the IMAX at Dreamworld back when Dreamworld was still new. That was near on 27 years ago now.

[gary]

A 10 March 2019 article by Ivan Couronne at AFP (https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/how-vintage-film-format-brought-apollo-11-back-life-doc-1ef1vx1)reports more on the
trove of material that was uncovered at the U.S. National Archives.



Story here :-
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-vintage-format-brought-apollo-life.html

[JeniSkunk]

Reading about the film is nice, but I'd like to actually be able to see it, preferably before 2019 is over.

[gary]

Hi Jen,

Same here! :)

Though it was released for one week in IMAX cinemas in the U.S.
on 1st March, no release date has been announced for Australia yet.

The IMAX cinema in Sydney is closed, is being re-built and will not open
until 2020.

The IMAX cinema in Melbourne is still open.

As the original footage was 65mm, I'm hopeful that it will be at least released
on screens wide enough to do that justice, such as the Event cinemas VMAX
theatres.

As it has had some coverage in the Australian press, I am hopeful we
will get a screening before the decade is out. :)

If anyone does spot an Australian release date announcement please post it here!

[gary]

Opens IMAX Melbourne 11th July 2019 :-
https://imaxmelbourne.com.au/movie/apollo_11_the_imax_experience

[JeniSkunk]

Looking very much like Brisbane won't get to see the film.
As for heading down to Melbourne to see it, I don't have $1500 to spare. :(

[gary]

Limited showings at the Sydney Film Festival :-

https://sff.org.au/program/browse/apollo-11

[multiweb]

Booked June session in Casula. :cool:

[multiweb]

Saw it this arvo at the casula power house with my daughter Emilie. I reckon I didn't blink or said a word for the whole duration. What a great doco. I wonder if they will ever release it on bluray. So much to see and digest. Need to watch it again and again to really appreciate all the content.

[Hans Tucker]

Went last night to IMAX Melbourne to watch this, thought it was good but not great. It did give you an appreciation of the size of the operation/program and some impressive footage.

[acropolite]

I believe it’s already been released on BluRay in the US, hopefully there will be a release for our region in the near future.

[gary]

Apollo 11 is currently showing for the next few days at limited sessions
at Event Cinemas around Australia.

The newly discovered 65mm footage of launch day is fabulous.

For those of us not present in Florida on the day for the launch, it is now
as close as we will ever feel to being present.

The minutiae of the world becomes more evident on the big screen.

For example, I was struck by the heat and humidity the outdoor
spectators appeared to endure, made evident by the glare of the sun
on their faces, the sweat on their foreheads and by their willingness to
wear silly looking giveaway fold-out cardboard caps.

In the VIP section we see several shots of Johnny Carson and as he enters
the stand he appears to be walking alongside Issac Asimov.

As the film progresses through each of the daisy chain of events that
had to go right for the mission to succeed and for the crew to survive,
it is enhanced by the mixing of both the communications between the
crew and CAPCOM and that between controllers extracted from recently
released 30-track "back loops".

Houston had two 30-track tape recorders which recorded all conversations
between all of the controllers.

We hear one of them asking another controller whether he heard about
the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident, the news of which was being
somewhat eclipsed by the moon landing.

The small annotation of fuel remaining and altitude in the corner of
the screen as the 16mm camera mounted at Eagle's window shows
the descent to the lunar surface, leaves the heart racing.

The Flight Surgeon reports Armstrong's had reached 150 beats-per-minute.

I liked Matt Morton's music soundtrack.

[Suzy]

Fantastic, thanks Gary.
This will make the perfect end to the day for my birthday on July 20th :D. NASA exhibition plus this :D while celebrating the 50th moon landing anniversary.... perfect!

[Rainmaker]

Happy Birthday Suzy, enjoy the movie. I saw it last night with my son, fantastic !!! Going to Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station tomorrow morning with staff from 1969 and Andy Thomas et al...

Matt

[Allan_L]

Thanks for the heads up Gary!
Been eagerly waiting since you first mentioned it.
Finally Saw it yesterday at Event Tuggerah.
What a Great documentary.
It still amazes me, 50 years on. :stargaze:

[idsteph]

Watched the Movie in Perth - excellent just a shame it was on world release 2 months on Bluray but not in Australia

[Multiverse]

Would like to see this eventually - maybe in a cinema or later for download. I actually didn't know BluRay was still a thing? Don't know anyone with a BluRay device.

[truss]

I saw this at Melbourne IMAX and what a visual feast! The lack of commentary just added to the experience; for a brief moment it was July 1969 again.

[pfitzgerald]

Finally got to see this magnificent documentary last Monday night at the iMax cinema in Melbourne - what an absolute treat! Loved every second of it. I hope that it becomes available for purchase as it's something I would watch more than once given the opportunity.

[gary]

Apollo 11 will be available to buy on Apple TV/iTunes on 4 Dec 2019

[pfitzgerald]

Yes!

Thanks for the heads up Gary.

Paul

[Suzy]

Yay, that's awesome news, thanks Gary :D