Legends of Sci-Fi, Art and Film Converge in Santa Fe, NM for an Award-Winning "Brush with the Future"
Santa Fe, NM: It was French writer, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) who famously said that, "Art is science made clear." The proof of this statement will take place when the award-winning film "Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future" screens at George R.R. Martin's Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe, NM on April 27th and 28th.
Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) has been called "The Father of Space Art" and is credited as a quiet force behind the creation of America's space program. Bonestell's breathtaking paintings of distant planets made the science of space clearer to stargazers the world over. One of his most iconic paintings, "Saturn as seen from Titan," which can be found on the film's poster, has even been called "The painting that launched a thousand careers."
Famed astronomer and astrophysicist, Carl Sagan once said, "I didn't know what other worlds looked like until I saw Bonestell's paintings of the solar system."
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future is the first film ever made about the artist and features rare interviews with Bonestell, along with legendary filmmakers such as Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Star Wars veterans Ben Burtt, Craig Barron and Richard Edlund, as well as numerous others who personally knew Bonestell or were influenced by his art.
"There isn't an artist that's painting today in the science fiction fantasy field who didn't start with Chesley Bonestell," says legendary science fiction author, Ray Bradbury in the film's trailer found at their website (http://www.chesleybonestell.com/trailer.html).
Bonestell led an extraordinary life and found himself in the middle of legendary undertakings more than once. "In addition to being an artist, Chesley Bonestell was a gifted architect and lent his talents to such historic projects as the Chrysler Building and the Golden Gate Bridge," says Adler Planetarium's Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz, who appears in the documentary.
Bonestell's architectural skills created movie magic when he moved to Hollywood, where his realistic and detailed matte paintings appeared in film classics like Citizen Kane, The Fountainhead, Destination Moon and The War of the Worlds. He joined forces with rocket scientist Willy Ley and illustrated The Conquest of Space (1949), a best-selling book that inspired Americans to not only reach for the stars but to explore them as well.
"Chesley Bonestell's role in the exploration of The Final Frontier is a forgotten part of our history. Here was a man who helped us get to the moon and beyond, not with technology but with a paintbrush," said Producer/Writer/Director, Douglass M. Stewart, Jr.
Following both screenings, a very special audience Q&A will take place with Producer/Director/Writer Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. and the film's Co-Producers Ron Miller, renowned space artist and author of more than fifty books about art, science and space, and Melvin Schuetz, Bonestell historian and author of "A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology." Both gentlemen collaborated with Frederick C. Durant III to produce the Hugo Award-winning book, "The Art of Chesley Bonestell," considered to be the definitive book on the works and life of Mr. Bonestell. The Jean Cocteau Cinema will also be featuring an impressive mini-exhibition of Mr. Miller's space art in their lobby/gallery area for both screening events.
Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future, named Best Documentary at the 2019 Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, will have its New Mexico premiere screening at George R.R. Martins' Jean Cocteau Cinema on April 27nd and April 28th at 6:00pm.
