First Orbit - Global Call to Action at the International Astronautical Congress

First Orbit, the viral experiential documentary film Directed and Produced by British independent film maker Chris Riley and premiered globally this year on YouTube to mark the 50th anniversary of mankind’s first spaceflight is launching its next phase.  A viral ‘call to action’ to translate the film into as many languages as possible will be announced this week on 4 October 2011 at the International Astronautical Congress, Cape Town, to the largest annual assembly of space professionals on Earth.

In what is fast becoming one of the most engaging and successful viral movie projects of the Internet Age, The aim is to open the story of Gagarin's pioneering flight to an even wider audience in the years to come. Anyone wishing to help can download a transcript of the entire film from www.firstorbit.org/join-us.

The following call to action statement from Chris Riley will be delivered to congress by Professor Chris Welch, of the International Space University (ISU), Strasbourg, France and one of the principal collaborators on First Orbit, this Thursday 4thOctober as part of a First Orbit analysis presentation.

CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT
“The words Yuri Gagarin spoke when orbiting the earth in 1961 are so very important to the history of humankind that they should be accessible to as many people on Earth as possible.  With your help we aim to ‘viraly crowd-source’ the translation of the film into as many languages as possible and have chosen to launch this call to action at the 2011 International Astronautical Congress in the hope that, with your help, we can reach the widest possible audience.”  Chris Riley, Director and Producer, First Orbit.                                                
Chris Welch will also present the results of a six month long analysis of First Orbit which will reveal just how wide the film's appeal has proven to be.

Example Stats and Facts:

1. The First Orbit viral experiential premiere event generated 1600 public screenings in more than 130 countries around the world, making it one of the most widely released independent films in history.

2. YouTube, simultaneously premiered the film on their global platform, attracting over two million viewings within the first 48 hours; making it the most watched long form film release in YouTube history.

Chris Riley says; ”Internet driven film distribution has given us an opportunity to make direct connections with audiences across the world. Now it’s their chance to get involved with the next stage of this unique project. I can’t wait to see how many translations we receive back."

Notes To Editors

Chris Riley is unable to attend the International Astronautical Congress in person as he will be presenting First Orbit to an audience in Slovakia with veteran Cosmonaut Vladimir Remek, the first space traveler from the European Union.

Professor Christopher Riley, Director and Producer – First Orbit, worked on data from NASA’s Spacelab 1 project, flown on an early Shuttle mission, for his Ph.D. at Imperial College, London before embarking on a career making science documentaries for the BBC. He has worked with NASA’s film archive for the past fifteen years on projects ranging from the BBC’s landmark series ‘The Planets’ to his highly acclaimed feature documentary film ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’. He created his first video installation from this material for the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing, during the summer of 2009. ‘Apollo Raw and Uncut’ played in gallery spaces in Europe and North America; the first time the entire 23 hours of Apollo’s mission flight film archive had been screened in public. ‘First Orbit’ was conceived as Riley’s second major installation film and is in the tradition of experimental documentaries like Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi. Riley holds the chair in Science and Media at the University of Lincoln.

Paolo Nespoli Director of Photography – First Orbit, is a European Space Agency astronaut. He was born in 1957, the year that Sputnik was launched, and went on to study aerospace engineering in Milan and New York. Paolo was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and made his first space flight onboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-120) in October 2007 on a 15-day mission working on the construction of the International Space Station. He returned to the Space Station in December 2010 as a member of Expedition 26 for a six month stay in orbit, conducting experiments in fluid physics, radiation, biology and technology demonstrations, as well as public outreach work like the First Orbit film.

First Orbit was made in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Expedition 25 through 27 crews of the International Space Station.

The film ‘First Orbit’ was created by matching the orbital path of the International Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin's Vostok 1 spaceship.

The International Space Station orbits the Earth approximately every 90 minutes, but doesn't always follow the same route as Gagarin took. So to find out when filming opportunities might occur, the European Space Agency (ESA) teamed Chris up with German orbital mechanics guru, Gerald Ziegler.

The music is all composed by Philip Sheppard and comes from his album Cloud Songs. First Orbit's producer Chris Riley first worked with Philip in 2006 on the Sundance Award-winning feature documentary film 'In the Shadow of the Moon' and since then Philip had been working on a new suite of music inspired by spaceflight. The result is a mesmerising combination of imagery and music, which aim to convey the spectrum of emotions that went through Yuri's mind.

For further information please contact Rufus Stone - Special Projects Director, Sister T: 44 (0)20 7287 9601        

Email: rufus.stone@sisteris.com

Sister, a creative multi-platform communications agency that strategically integrates public relations with marketing, advertising, social media, digital design, web development and film production.

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