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FIRST ON THE MOON /Alexei Fedorchenko RUSSIA, 2005, 75 MIN Think it was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin? Well, think again, because as Alexei Fedorchenko’s unsettling new film reveals, a Soviet cosmopilot, Ivan Kharlamov, actually went there and back in 1938, piloting his experimental (and highly secretive) craft back to Chile, from which he undertook an arduous journey across the Pacific, through China and Mongolia and finally into Mother Russia itself. Beyond being a kind of record of a sort of historical event, Fedorchenko’s film is a touching expression of an unfettered utopian spirit—a sense of the limitless possibilities of human ingenuity and imagination—that characterized many people’s vision of the Soviet experiment before its grim realities settled in. Alexei Fedorchenko was born in Russia in 1966. He studied economics before attending the Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) for scriptwriting. At Sverdlovsk Studios he directed documentaries, including David and Children of the White Grave. The First on the Moon is his feature film debut. Preceded by: STILL WORLD / Elbert van Strien THE NETHERLANDS, 2005, 30 MIN Sometimes stopping the world doesn’t make it any more manageable. Elbert van Strien has written several award-winning short films, including Marionettes (1994), which was nominated for a student Academy Award, The Spanish Horse (1999), Forbidden Eyes (2002) and The Hidden Face (2004). He has also written a number of feature film projects and in 2003 founded Accento Films which has produced Still World and is developing three of his feature scripts.

Buy Tickets WED MARCH 29: 8:45 (MoMA)* SAT APRIL 1: 1:30 (FSLC) *Tickets available at MoMA only. FSLC: Walter Reade Theater MoMA: Titus 1 Theater