TO THE MOON
A film by Tadhg O’Sullivan
2020, 76 minutes
2020, 76 minutes
No. 365
Documentary
Documentary
Description
There is perhaps nothing more universal than looking at the moon. As Long as humans have walked the earth, our closest heavenly companion has captivated the nightly imagination. A ghostly presence that carries its own monthly death and resurrection, the moon is a melancholy figure - our planet’s barren twin. And yet it has a deeply joyous aspect - the full glow of its light is awonder, all the more because of its fleeting nature.
As a canvas for human creativity the moon is unsurpassed - it has been sung to, implored, made woman and man; imagined as the beginning of heaven, the source of love, death, dreams and birth; ithas been utopia to our dystopic planet; it has been - rightly and wrongly - held responsible for everything from insanity to fertility, from the tides to the mysterious journey of eels across the oceans; an empty and lifeless rocky globe, we have somehow made it everything to us.
To The Moon does not seek (nor could it ever achieve) a total cultural history of its subject. Rather it weaves its stories and fragments into a thread that serves as a guide across unexpected andmagical terrain. Following the cyclical structure of one complete lunar phase, the film moves through its themes, combining an associative freedom with a controlled narrative style.
Festivals
Official Selection, Telluride International Film Festival
Official Selection, Venice Days
Official Selection, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal
Official Selection, DOK Leipzig
Reviews
“Gorgeous. Threading together sequences showing the lunar face of subjects from love to madness, this is a gorgeous journey into outer and inner space… A beautifully succinct visual essay on the little guy in the sky… An impressively broad set of purpose-shot and archive footage – including films from 25 countries, including ones by Satyajit Ray, FW Murnau and Carl Theodor Dreyer.” – The Guardian
“As magical as the orb that inspired it” – The Irish Times
