TICKET TO THE MOON
Germany, Czech Republic 2019 | 68 + 52 Minutes | A film by Veronika Janatkovà
During the Cold War, almost 100,000 people on both sides of the Iron Curtain had their names put on the waiting list for the “First Moon Flights” club at the U.S. airline PanAm in the late 1960s. Director Veronika Janatková’s family owns such a ticket to the moon. Her grandfather bought it in Prague in 1969. Now she tracks down some of the potential space travelers from back then and tells their story – and a story of utopias that people associated with space back then and still dream of today.
SYNOPSIS
“My family has a ticket to the moon. My grandfather bought it in 1969 in Prague, at the office of Pan Am (Pan American World Airways)”, starts filmmaker Veronika Janatková her film.
At a time when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were at the height of the Space Race, almost 100.000 space enthusiasts on both sides of the Iron Curtain became members of Pan Am‘s First Moon Flights Club and were put on their waiting list. Following the filmmaker´s grandfather, one of the fellow club members, the film asks what did the mere thought and imagination of a trip to the Moon meant to these potential space travelers – on both sides of the Iron Curtain?
TICKET TO THE MOON meets some of those potential space travelers today and humorously tells their individual moon stories. Are the “Moon” generation’s dreams and aspirations the same as ours today? The film explores what keeps driving the relentless ambition of human mind to escape to outer space.
DIRECTOR
Veronika Janatkovà focuses on international documentary films with social-political driven topics, working mainly as creative producer and dramaturge. She has directed several short films, while this marks her feature debut. She is a graduate of film producing at FAMU the art school in Prague, art and cinema at Paris 8 – St. Denis and international relations at the SMVVPrague. She is an alumni of the European Workshop “ExOriente”, “ArchiDoc”, “DOKincubator” and “Clearview”. Since 2010, she is based in Berlin. Some titles she has worked on are HOLY COW by Imam Hasanov, I DIDN’T CROSS THE BORDER by Toma Chagelishvili, GOD IS NOT WORKING ON SUNDAY by Leona Goldstein, CONCRETE STORIES by Lorenz Findeisen.
CREDITS
Writer & Director
Veronika JantakováCo-Director & Cinematography
Piotr RosolowskiEditor
Till SteinmetzProducer
Stefan KloosProduction
Kloos & Co. MedienCo-Production
Pandistan
ZDF/ARTEWorld Sales
Rise and Shine World SalesFESTIVALS
World Premiere
Academia Film Olomouc – International Festival of Science Documentary Films 2019, Czech RepublicInternational Premiere
Krakow International Film Festival 2019, PolandFurther Festivals
One World International Film Festival 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia
CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival 2019, Hungary
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival 2019, Czech Republic
DocsMX 2019, Mexico
Imagine Science Film Festival 2020, USA
Fipadoc – International Documentary Festival 2021, Biarritz, France
