As we travel to space and develop new civilizations as early as 2025, we have a novel opportunity to learn from the experiences of oppressed and marginalized communities to imagine and establish a more conscious, peaceful, loving and joyous future.
// Written, directed and edited by
Gaurav Cedric Bhatnagar
// Featuring Interviews with
Sharon Alexandria
Joseph Harper
Glenn Harris
Leslie Kazadi
Lucius O’Connor
Ayesha Young
// Music
Ima Ima by Sheila Govindarajan
Blue Dot by Andy Page
New World by L Shankar
// Production
Johanna Caldera
Raaj Jadoo
Andy Page
L Shankar
Kevin Kinsella
Andrew Laurich
This short film was inspired by the NASA CineSpace film competition that asked filmmakers to create a 10-minute film depicting the opportunity space travel holds for humanity while using footage from NASA's public domain archives. We created a Koyaanisqatsi-esque film that depicts in three parts: 1) we have a beautiful planet, 2) there is a lot of violence and destruction here we need to learn from as 3) we head to Mars as early as 2025. For example, when we see the image of a woman astronaut setting her footprint on Mars – whose footprint will that be? And, will we place a flag in Mars claiming it for NASA, Space X or some other international space agency? Can we re-consider the notion of colonization and ownership altogether? Many indigenous peoples of the Americas have no word in their languages for the concept of 'ownership' and related concepts such as colonization or slavery. What if we could establish our relationship to Mars based on values of compassion and respect for the land and one another instead of ownership? What would it look like? As we imagine that, how might we on Earth learn and change as well? Can we start a dialog amongst members of marginalized communities and the international space travel community to seriously include their experiences and voices in key decisions about how we structure new societies?
