Kuulge-kuulge, kas te nägite eileõhtust (ja täna korratud) filmi "Kuu varjupool" ("Operation Lune, Prantsuse 2002)? Lihtsalt fantastiline, tõesti. Eriti hea meel oli mul selle üle, et ma lihtsalt sattusin seda vaatama: seda polnud haibitud ja kellatud. ETV tutvustus oli muuseas päris tabav: "Kuidas olid Hollywoodi režissöörid seotud NASAga? Kuidas aitas meedia kaasa USA kosmosevallutustele? Neile huvitavatele küsimustele keskendub dokumentaalfilm, milles käsitletakse üht 20. sajandi tähtsündmust - inimese jõudmist Kuule. Ameeriklased vajasid kosmose hõivamiseks avalikkuse toetust, mis saavutati televisiooni ja filmikunsti kavalal kaasabil. Rabavad kosmosekaadrid olid sageli osavalt kokkumiksitud võltsingud. Kerkib küsimus, kas tänapäeva tehniliste võimaluste juures saab vaataja üldse olla kindel selle ehtsuses, mida ta vaatab." Just viimases küsimuses peitub filmi võti. Aga väärt on ka filmi autorite endi ülevaade sellest, mida siis lõppude lõpuks meile näidatakse.

Originally, in 2001, director William Karel wanted to make a film on Stanley Kubrick, one year after his death. While talking to his widow, he discovered the extent of the collaboration that existed between Kubrick and the NASA. It turns out that Kubrick and other Hollywood producers contributed largely to the popular success of the US space programme by turning it into a show (design of astronauts’ suits, colour fo the Apollo capsule, positioning of the rocket launcher in Cape Canaveral, etc…)

Starting with this true story, we came up with our own… What if…? What if Nixon - under pressure to put the first man onto the moon before the end of the decade – had asked for a film of the landing on the moon be produced just in case the Apollo 11 went wrong and no pictures would be available…

A documentary intrigue, a subtle blend of facts, fiction and hypothesis, around an event that marked the 20th century: the landing on the moon. What if it’s all been a big hoax triggered by the race of the two super-powers to be the first to conquer the moon ? What if there have been no “live transmissions” from the moon – as many claim? The progress of film and television technology has made it possible to manipulate images without it being obvious. Even the use of archive pictures is no guarantee for authenticity since they can be used to substantiate very different “facts”. How can the spectator KNOW what he watches?

Navigating carefully between lies and truth, the film mixes fact with pure invention. We will use every possible ingredient : ‘hijacked’ archive footage, false documents, real interviews which have been taken out of context or transformed through voice-over or dubbing, staged interviews by actors who reply from a script and, of course, interviews with astronauts such as Neil Armstrong who refute our claim or still others who believe for all what it’s worth that it was all a hoax.

This is not an ‘ordinary’ documentary… It’s intent is to inform and entertain the viewer, but also to shake him up, make him aware of the fact that television can get it wrong (intentionally or not) .We want to achieve this aim by using a universally known event (the landing on the Moon) that is surrounded by question marks (which is a fact) and spin some tale around it, that sounds plausible but isn't a fact (although there are elements in it that are real!). Confused? It will all be revealed before the end of the film... once the viewer is hooked, strung along and starts really wondering.

Täna lahkuvad meilt taas mõned inimesed töölt. Ma jään üha üksikumaaks :)