Comic-Con Best Documentary Winner About Artist Who Inspired US Space Program Heads for SoCal Launch

LOS ANGELES - June 17, 2019 - PRLog -- An Audience Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival last year was a stellar start for the first-ever film about "The Father of Space Art," Chesley Bonestell. Since then, however, "Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future" has gone on to know even greater success, winning two Best Documentary awards, including one at Comic-Con 2018 and a second at the 44^th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival in 2019. So who was this man credited as a quiet force behind the creation of America's space program? On July 15^th and 16^th - 50 years from when Apollo XI carried two humans to the Moon – Los Angeles-area audiences will have a chance to know this nearly forgotten but influential artist a lot better. "Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future" will have its Southern California Theatrical Premiere with eight simultaneous screenings at four Laemmle Theatres.

"We've screened this film at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, George R.R. Martin's Jean Cocteau Theater in Santa Fe and now we'll be in Southern California where Chesley Bonestell lived for many years." said Douglass M. Stewart, Jr, the film's producer/writer/director. "It was while living in Hollywood that he produced his most famous painting of "Saturn as seen from Titan." As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of landing on the Moon, this is the story of a person who helped get us there, not with technology, but with a paint brush."

As both artist and architect, Bonestell's astounding career included collaborations on a surprising number of historical projects as well. He helped design the Chrysler building in New York. When he turned complicated and confusing blueprints into beautiful paintings, he helped get the Golden Gate Bridge built.  As a matte painter, Bonestell created movie magic for films like "Citizen Kane" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" along with sci-fi classics like "When Worlds Collide" and "The War of the Worlds."

"There isn't an artist painting today in the science fiction fantasy field who didn't start with Chesley Bonestell" says legendary science fiction author Ray Bradbury in the film's trailer at http://www.chesleybonestell.com.

    The 96-minute documentary features rare interviews with Bonestell, along with perspectives from numerous others who knew Bonestell or were influenced by his art, including Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Star Wars veterans Ben Burtt, Craig Barron and Richard Edlund. Additional insights come from astronomer Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz, Dr. Catherine Newell author of the new book "Destined for the Stars," space artist David Aguilar, Bonestell protégé Don Davis and many others.

    "If you've never heard of Bonestell, you'll come away from the film wondering why not. And if, like me, you knew something of Bonestell's life and work, you'll be astonished to discover how much more you didn't know." - "Meet Chesley Bonestell, The Most Important Space Artist You've Probably Never Heard Of" - Richard Fienberg, Astronomy Magazine, March 15, 2019.

  "Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future" will have its Southern California Theatrical Premiere on July 15th at four Laemmle Theatres: the Royal Theatre (West Los Angeles), Playhouse 7 Theatre (Pasadena), Town Center 5 Theatre (Encino) and Claremont 5 Theatre (Claremont). Showtimes at all theaters are at 7:30pm on July 15th and 1pm on July 16th.  The filmmaker, along with some participants in the film, will be participating in a Q&A's at selected locations. For more information and to watch the film's trailer, please visit Laemmle Theater's webpage at https://www.laemmle.com/films/45869.

More about the Film:  Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future was featured as the cover story in the January-March 2019 Issue of Filmfax Magazine and is reviewed in the National Space Society's just-released Spring 2019 issue of Ad Astra Magazine.