• Journeys Beyond the Cosmodrome

  • Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

Journeys Beyond the Cosmodrome

In Person

This haunting, poetic film calls forth the dreams of nine sixteen-year-old orphans in Kazakhstan. With the aid of filmmakers Jeanne C. Finley and Lyazzat Khanim, the teens present vividly imagined visions of their future lives. Their current reality is quickly changing as they prepare to move away from the only place they’ve known as home and the only family they’ve ever had. The fact that these fascinating and colorful kids have grown up next to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the world’s first and largest operational space launch facility, makes their far-out visions especially poignant. From the majestic Kazakh steppes, the young artists use a mixture of words, pictures, and music to craft mesmerizing prophecies of what adulthood and independence will mean to them. Not surprisingly, themes of time, space, memory, and emotional exploration weave into their art. A stirring, trippy, one-of-a-kind experience, this film will expose you to worlds you’ve never known and dreams that just might come true.

Brendan Peterson
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Jeanne C. Finley
  • Lyazzat Khanim
Cinematographer
  • Jeanne C. Finley
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 53 mins
Preceded By

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

Carol Dysinger, United States, 2019

An organization called Skateistan recruits young Afghan girls from poor neighborhoods in Kabul to help them learn to read, write—and skateboard!

FILM DETAILS 
Cinematographer
  • Lisa Rinzler
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 39 mins