NASA and the Houston Cinema Arts Society have joined forces once again to host the CineSpace Short Film Competition on Tongal. This annual event invites filmmakers, editors, and animators from around the world to explore NASA's digital archives and create short films inspired by, and incorporating, real NASA footage.
Each year, the judging committee not only awards first-, second-, and third-place prizes, but also recognizes films of spectacular merit that address one of two unique topics. This year's Special Categories are “Films That Best Depict Diversity & Inclusion” and “Educational Film that Inspires the Next Generation to Join STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).”
Cinema has always had the power to shape how we see ourselves, and the 2022 Special Categories illuminate this very sentiment. For the latter category, CineSpace 2022 participants are encouraged to dig into NASA’s vast footage archive and use it to bring to life moments that inspire the next generation of STEM-field professionals.
Want to explore films that have addressed this topic? We’ve collected a few of some of our favorite CineSpace films just for you. Enjoy.
Mack Minded: Humanly Possible by Claire DeJarnett: Before the acronym STEM even existed, Dr. Pauline Beery Mack, Texas Woman’s University professor in the 1950s-1970s, pioneered in the quest for knowledge in science, technology, and statistical research. Her advances in bone density provided NASA invaluable information for manned spaceflight, earning Mack a Silver Snoopy award presented by Astronaut Jim Lovell in 1970, a time when women scientists were rarely recognized among their male peers.
7 Planets by Milda Baginskaite: A great discovery regarding seven Earth-sized planets near our solar system has been made. This is a story about one girl’s lifelong obsession with the discovery and her struggle to be understood.
Test, Fail, Test by Tim Hamilton (CineSpace 2021 Second Place Winner): By copying the attitudes of astronauts before him a young man Questions what it means to be an explorer. He builds janky model rockets and tests them to see if one day he might be able to launch himself into space.
Apizaco by Alex Moreno: Without high-tech and with limited resources, a group of teenage girls from Apizaco, a small rural town in Mexico, learned math, science, and robotics together with the passion and dedication of their middle school teacher, and managed to win the top prizes at NASA’s Mars Trekker Global Teen Summit.
Twenty Years by Donn Weber: 20 years of experiments on the ISS in a microgravity environment with cutting-edge technology and the sharpest minds in the world has dramatically improved our lives on Earth. Astronauts set aside their differences, and unite as one team to realize their dreams, goals, challenges and ultimate successes. In this film, we relish the inspiring words of the astronauts who have lived peacefully on the International Space Station for two decades.
Prove The Impossible by Louise Nessralla (CineSpace 2021 Third Place Winner): In 2019, the first all-female spacewalk was conducted. The plans to get more women into space, and specifically, to the South Pole of the moon are currently in motion through the Artemis Program. From the pioneer scientists to the newly inducted astronaut candidates, women are more determined than ever to create their own space, on Earth and beyond.
CineSpace submissions are due July 15th, 2022. Head to the brief for more information and to access NASA’s image archive. We can’t wait to see what you create.
