«Space flight» in the programme of the Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival

Another film of the retrospective programme "History of Cinema" which we’d like to introduce is the Soviet science fiction film about the conquest of space "Space Flight". It was filmed by Vasily Zhuravlev in 1935 and based on the script of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky who himself took part in the filming process. The screening is dedicated to the 165th anniversary of Konstantin Eduardovich. 

Tsiolkovsky created 30 drawings of a rocket plane specially for the filming. Later, those drawings were combined into a "Space Travel Album", published in 1947. After the film crew managed to successfully recreate the stunt scenes with weightlessness, a telegram was sent to Kaluga to Tsiolkovsky: "The world without gravity has been mastered. Academician Sedykh, Marina, Andryusha and other members of the team send you, dear Konstantin Eduardovich, heartfelt greetings from the cinema Moscow - Moon space flight!"  

The film received international recognition; it was purchased by several dozen countries around the world. "Space Flight" is considered the first Soviet science fiction film about the conquest of space, and the first science fiction film in History of Soviet Cinema. Thanks to Tsiolkovsky's participation, the scientific side of the film is regarded as almost flawless. Apart from some outdated details (starting from the overpass and anti-overload baths), everything else is impressive even today.

The scenes of weightlessness turned out to be so realistic that after several decades, real astronauts were delighted with them. Cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy said after watching the film: "We were stunningly impressed by the "swimming" of the crew in a state of weightlessness: everything was filmed so accurately that it was possible to take the footage for a documentary shot inside the "Salyut""

A film critic, director-cameraman Nikolai Mayorov, who has long been studying and digitally restoring films of the past years, preserving their pristine image and sound for the history of cinema will tell the audience about the film.