World Premiere of Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission Planned for SXSW Film Festival
Film to Document Historic Journey by World’s First Second Generation Astronaut SXSW 2010
An historic 12-day journey to space by legendary game developer and space explorer Richard Garriott will have its world premiere at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin. Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission is set to blast off with two screenings at the 2010 conference. The first will be 1:30 pm on Sunday, March 14 at Austin’s Paramount Theater and the second will be Thursday, March 18, at 2:30, also at the Paramount.
“This is like having an HD camera follow Christopher Columbus as he struggled to put together his voyage to the New World”
The feature length documentary will debut as a Spotlight Premiere on the SXSW lineup. The film is directed by Mike Woolf of Beef and Pie Productions and produced by Brady Dial.
Garriott’s trip to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket in October of 2008 was the first trip to space for a second generation astronaut. His father, Owen, flew on Skylab in the 1970s and the space shuttle in 1983. But for Richard’s dream to come true he had to pioneer private space travel. He has funded companies like the Google X PRIZE and Space Adventures, the company that now makes it possible for private citizens to purchase a seat to space.
In addition to being the first son of an astronaut to go to space, there are other firsts in this film: never-before-seen training footage in Star City, Russia’s secretive cosmonaut training facility, Garriott’s launch from Kazakhstan and his personal movies shot onboard the ISS.
More than two years in the making, the film is a behind-the-scenes look at this captivating journey which includes groundbreaking experiments that are now pioneering a wave of more affordable private space travel and other fascinating segments that give an insider’s glimpse of what life is really like onboard the ISS.
This unique moment in human space history is what attracted the filmmakers to the story. “There can only be one first son of an astronaut to go to space,” says director Mike Woolf. “People will look back at this film and realize that this is when space travel was opened up to everyone and Richard Garriott led the way.”
“This is like having an HD camera follow Christopher Columbus as he struggled to put together his voyage to the New World,” said Brady Dial, the film’s producer. Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission is open to SXSW film and interactive badge holders and individual tickets will be available to the public. More information can be found at http://www.manonamissionmovie.com. The movie trailer is available for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRvqt3NKFs.
ABOUT RICHARD GARRIOTT
In October of 2008, Richard Garriott realized a lifelong dream when he boarded a Russian Soyuz rocket and launched to the International Space Station becoming the first second-generation astronaut to travel to space. He is currently chairman of the board of Space Adventures, Ltd. and is a leading expert on private space travel. He made a name for himself as a pioneering and award winning computer game developer. His Ultima series of games is one of the longest running franchises in the history of gaming. His Ultima Online game broke ground in 1997 by becoming the first commercially successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Today he is executive vice president and creative director of new gaming startup, Portalarium. More information about Richard can be found at http://www.RichardGarriott.com.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
BEEF & PIE PRODUCTIONS is a full service production company based in Austin, Texas, led by the award-winning director/DP team of Mike Woolf and Andrew Yates. Their wide variety of professional work together ranges from successful commercial campaigns for large clients (AT&T, Chase Bank) to long form documentaries (Something’s Brewin’ in Shiner, Growin’ A Beard). BRADY DIAL has been producing film projects in Austin – and beyond – since 2001. He co-produced the IMAX film RIDE AROUND THE WORLD and PBS projects Making the Modern, about Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and Recapturing Cuba, an exploration of the art scene in Havana, Cuba.
Contacts
CS Media
David Swofford, 512-750-9098
dswofford@austin.rr.com
