Onboard Diary

Moscow onboard diaries #3

The conclusions....

Moscow onboard diaries #2

Moscow onboard diaries

Russian films to sink a battleship

We're flipping out after finding the birubirFilm channel on Youtube, This channel's full of Russian cinema, both modern and from the Soviet era. You can find films ranging from Andrei Tarkovsky's cult ones to great classics such us The Irony Of Fate. Also, there's plenty of animation cinema and hard-to-find rarities; all of them with English subtitles (they're also available on Veoh).


The truth is that such an amount of materials can be overwhelming at first sight, and it's hard to know where to start, so... do you feel like recommending your favourite Russian films in 'comments'?

Lost in Space

Some people believe that somewhere out in the vast darkness of Space, at about 15,000 million kilometres from the Sun, the first human being is about to cross the border of our Solar System to interstellar space. His body, perfectly preserved, is frozen at -270ºC. His little capsule's been silently drifting away from Earth at 29,000km/h for the past 45 years. He's the original lost cosmonaut whose spaceship ascended but, instead of descending afterwards, it simply kept following its course.


It's the latest fashion in Cold War legends: that in the origin of the Space era (in the late 50s and during the 60s), the Soviet Union had two Space programs; one of them was public and the other one was 'dark' and, in this one, they carried out much riskier missions, even suicidal. It was assumed that the Russia's dark operations, had they ever existed, would be kept a secret forever.

Lost in Space is an article compiling some of the stories about cosmonauts lost in Space during the first years of the Space Race. The connecting thread is the story of Achille and Giovanni Judica-Cordiglia, two Italian brothers whose peculiar hobby was to intercept radio transmissions from Soviet spaceship. The brothers claim having been able to record, more than once, the last moments of the Soviet cosmonauts who died during failed missions.

"Come in... come in... come in... Listen! Come in! Talk to me! I am hot! I am hot! Come in! What? Forty-five? What? Fifty? Yes. Yes, yes, breathing. Oxygen, oxygen... I am hot. This... isn't this dangerous?"

Today we know that the brothers were being watched by the KGB. It was probably their big shot to fame (after appearing on the Fiera di Sogni contest, where they won the opportunity of visiting the NASA) what saved their lives. Nearly half a century afterwards, in a completely different context, a KGB agent in charge of the brothers agrees to being interviewed anonymously.

"They had to be dealt with - an accident perhaps - but then that TV programme happened and they were famous. That saved their lives. I was glad; they were good kids."

Also horrifying are the statements by Mikhail Rudenko (a retired aerospace engineer), in which he talks about the suicidal missions undertaken by three cosmonauts between 1957 and 1959, who were simply launched to Space without anything which might enable them to get back into the atmosphere.
 Most of the statements about the obscure beginnings of the Space Race are not backed by any source. However, it's notorious the ability with which the Soviet Uniot has hidden the existence of certain facts or people. They've simply been erased from History. Although it may remind you of the ineffable Ivan Istochnikov case, the story of cosmonaut Grigoriy Nelyubov -a founding member of th Sochi Six who was 'erased'- is the perfect example.



Engineer and journalist Jim Osberg -famous for his sceptical view on conspiracy theories- has written two interesting articles in which he presents the reasons why he doesn't believe the Judica-Cordiglia story, based on the lack of evidence and some illogical facts. You can read them here and here  (PDF, 116KB y 48KB).

Guidelines to dream of Russia and Space

Step 1) Watch the documentary The Red Stuff.  A wonderful portrait of several cosmonauts, the begining of the space race and the several deaths following the first manned space trips.
Leonov's or Boris Volynov's confessions -the latter supports The Cosmonaut- are excellent and honest-
Location:Youtube,  8 parts, English subtitles (Thank you Jesús Olmo!) 

Step 2) Watch the three parts of the documentary Red Star in Orbit, inspired by the book with the same title, by the great James Oberg. Absolutely breathtaking. There are images which you never dreamed you'd see. A really deep look into the space race.


The first part talks about Korolyov, the genius behind each Soviet achievement. The second part's about Gagarin's first trip. The third part is about how cosmonauts train in Star City nowadays. Notice that we visited all the places which you can see in this last part and we'll probably be shooting some parts of the film in them :)

Location: The Internet, streaming. No subtitles / Youtube

Step 3) Buy on Amazon, for less than one euro, the book by James Oberg and another one with the title of 'The Russian Space Bluff', written by a rocket engineer from Korolyov's team who emigrated to the United States. 

Location: Amazon.com

Step 4) Read all the documentation which we've been piling up for the script and use them to create your derivated works. There are tens of ideas and fascinating documents about lost cosmonauts, accidents and the history of the Luna programme. Our sources of inspiration... they're yours.

Enjoy them, they're the product of several months of work ;)

Location: Here

If you ever go to Russia... Russia's 7 Wonders

Some time ago, thanks to Microsiervos, we discovered this graceful article brewed in the English Russia site: Russia's 7 Wonders. The idea came up from a Russian group of television channels, newspapers and Russian radio stations and everybody was invited to take part in it via the Internet or text messages.

So, now you know... If the possibility of visiting that land ever arises, keep these places really in mind:

 Lake Baikal (Озеро Байкал)

This lake -of tectonic origin- is situated in Eastern Siberia. Its name derives from the Tartar term 'Bai-Kul', rich lake. It's also well known as 'The Blue Eye of Siberia' and 'The Pearl o Asia', due to the quality of its water, which was the best in the planet but it's now losing its status because of pollution.

Valley of the Geysers

The landmark is located in the Kamchatka peninsula (Has any of you ever tried its famous king crabs?) and it's comprised by thousands of active geysers. Similarly to Lake Baikal, this landmark has been declared a UNESCO World's Heritage place.

Mother Motherland Monument

Also known as The Motherland Calls (Родина-мать зовёт!)  is a monumental statue built on the Mamáyev Kurgan hill in Volgograd (the old Stalingrad) in commemoration of the battle during the Second World War. With a height of 85 metres, the statue is formed by 5,500 tones of concrete and 2,400 tones of metal. At the time of its inauguration, on October the 15th 1967, it was the highest statue in the world.

Peterhof (Петерго́ф)

It's a city inside the Petrodvortsovy district of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. It has a 64,791 population and it's house to one of the two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University. There, you can find a series of palaces and gardens created on the orders of Peter the Great, which have resulted in the place being dubbed 'the Russian Versailles'.

The Komi Republic (Респу́блика Ко́ми)

Although it's been estimated that it might have happened 200 million years ago, the exact date of origin of the famous 'stone poles' is unknown. What the scientific community do agree on is that its formation was only possible due to natural origins (they know an awful lot about this in Cuenca too...). Some of this formations can reach the height of 42 metres.

Mount Elbrus (Эльбрус)

Russia's most famous mountain is located in the western region of the Caucasian mountain range, near the Georgian border. It's the highest mountain of the aforementioned range, which is considered, together with the Ural Mountains, the frontier between Europe and Asia. This being an artificial border, the north part of the Caucasus is considered to be European, while the south part is considered Asian. Therefore, with a height of 5,642 metres, mount Elbrus can be cosidered the highest mountain in Europe, since it's located in the north part.

Saint Basil's Cathedral (Собор Покрова что на Рву)

Well, this one doesn't actually need an introduction... Not to be confused with the Московский Кремль!

Suit up!

 

Day 10. The Journey comes to its end

Today was our last day in Moscow. We're leaving behind a strange city, also eclectic, deeply traditional and modern at the same time. A city in which feeling like a foreigner is as easy as feeling at home.

Yesterday we celebrated a farewell dinner. We made ratatouille and gazpacho for our Russian guests. We ate, drank and laughed. At the end of the night Julia and Liuba gifted us with a traditional, sober, beautiful and vibrant song. I will probably include it in the film.

I will shortly upload the video I recorded.

We leave with the feeling of having a bit more knowledge about this strange Russian culture, its inhabitants, cold and disagreeable at first but affectionate and cheerful once they feel close; and also its streets fully crowded with snow (although thaw has been working all day long to reveal a grey landscape), with smells, noises, and contrasts between the toughest poverty and the most exhuberant luxury.

And we leave with our pockets full: important news for the film, gifts and objects, important deals, good and bad experiences.

We have the feeling of a business journey more than a holiday, too many commitments and little time to enjoy Moscow as tourists.

We also leave with our stomachs full of delicious meals, new flavors, borsh, kvas, blinis...

And we leave with some silly random words we learnt: spasiva, dasvihdania, packa, jhrasho, dobre, dobre, dobre...

You can see a sample of photos from the journey on our álbum Picasa)

Day 9. Star City. Cosmonaut Costumes. Space Tourists. MIR.

Our second last day in Moscow has been one of those historical ones that has brought and will bring many good things for the film.

We went back the Star City. This time was to learn about it in depth.

First we visited the museum. We have discovered fascinating things. The best: a confession. But I promised not to say where it comes from. What I can say is that it was told by an American technician to the person who told us:

-"What do you do about sex on outer space?, he asked.

-"We use blow-up dolls", the technician answered.

And I still find myself smiling when I imagine this.

The Star City is like a small town where everybody knows each another, lots of meetings, one after the other. First we met Sergei Volkov who gave us the costume he had promised. It is an authentic training jumpsuit he used while preparing Mission 17th to the International Station. He gave us permission to sell it at an auction to get funds for the film. It will travel to Spain together with other cosmonaut costumes.

Later, outside the museum, we met him again. He was being interviewed for the Russian television with his father, Alexander Volkov, another mythical cosmonaut from the Soviet period, we were able to say hello to him. He was delighted with the project and offered to appear in a picture with us and his son, then he signed it.

We also took the chance to sign in the visitors' book.

The second part of our visit has been, if possible, more exciting. We visited the special complex and training areas. We were standing under the largest training spinning machine in the world.

We were totally amazed by the MIR. The authentic MIR, majestic, resting quietly in front of us.

We managed to get information about several facts for the film. Finally we visited the underwater training area and bought a few things at the souvenir shop. As special gift, they let us buy some authentic cosmonauts food. An apple compote tube, bread and energetic food blocks.

From left to right, top to bottom: images from the training area where the old MIR is exhibited after taking it back from the ocean...and cosmonaut's food.

Best news came after a conversation with our guide. She confirmed to us, after a speaking to the Gagarin Centre´s Director, that we´ll receive a collaboration letter and the permission to shoot some of the special sequences inside the complex. Shooting in Star City...!

This is becoming a dream come true. Now we only need the money to make it real. (We added an extra item in the budget after this news, we're planning to move a small team to Moscow during 9 days to shoot these sequences and some others at the capital and surroundings).

Once again this project seems to have been touched by fairies, so among all possible things to happen, only the best and the weirdest become real, always.

In the middle of a lost and prohibited city, hidden till not so long ago, hardly accessible, in the middle of a snowy place...who did we meet at the Star City? We met Richard Garriot, the sixth space tourist and Space Adventures representative. A man who paid 30 million dollars to fly to outer space on Mission 17th with Sergei Volkov.

We told him about the project and he excitedly asked us to send the information to him to be able to read it in depth. He gave us his personal card and a couple of patches from his space mission. And, of course, a signed photograph.

Is it possible to be luckier than this? Someday a meteor will land on our heads to get this all balanced.

NOTE: To end the day the best way possible, Carola called me to say that the project has been presented at the ICAA on time and without any problem. It may be denied because of political problems which we´ll explain further on, but we have hope for this project to be a tool to change a few things in this country. The ball is in your field. Mr. Lara, make your bet.

Day 8. Military Costumes and Russian Songs

Julia is our hostess, guide and agent here in Russia. She is determined, pleasant and cheerful. Brilliant.

I was pointing at a military coat, a long and tight one, I said: "I would love to have one of these!"

She made a note of it.

We did see half of the city until we found it. My military coat is wonderful. So is Julia.

We also took the chance to buy ten soldier caps with their Soviet insignia at a military clothes shop. I think Margarita, our costume designer; will love them.

We're bringing another two military suits from the Soviet period to Spain, courtesy of Masha´s father's friends. Thank you very much once again!

At nightfall, Miriam and I attended a Pyatnizky State Russian Folk Choir concert. A traditional Russian choir. It was absolutely marvelous. They gave us a two hours delight with dancing, laughing, singing and a feeling of weird happiness. It was one of the best things of the whole journey.

Day 7. MGIMO and Cervantes Institute

The lecture given at MGIMO about Spanish cinema was really successful. We explained our model and they were very impressed. Shortly they´ll be sending us a collaboration letter which we´ll use together with all others.

I could never imagine I would have the opportunity to talk about Val Del Omar in a place so far away from Granada and Castilla as Russia is.

NOTE:

Pdf File about lecture available here.

Zip File with the posters Julia designed available here.

We also had a meeting with Josep María de Sagarra and Tatiana Pigariova. They are Director and Cultural Manager, at the Moscow´s Cervantes Institute.

They have listened to our explanation about the project with a lot of interest and will soon communicate to us how can they help with our project and what can we organize all together.

Tatiana talked about a film she had heard about: Paper Soldat

The story is quite similar to ours. That film also talks about a cosmonaut and a complicated love triangle. Some weeks ago I tried to find subtitles for it but failed. I found the film on DVD in Moscow and bought it. It has no subtitles either so I will have to resign myself to just watch images.

Day 6. Izmailovo

On the 6th day of our journey we visited Izmailovo´s market. There you can find any kind of antiques, trinkets, souvenirs and genuine or imitation-military products.

It was an aesthetic paradise for us and an unlimited batch of resources for our film and our newest obsession: Russia.

The shopping list, after a funny bargaining, was the following:

• Soviet leather cap.
• Soviet military cap (touristic)
• Russian poster magnets
• A book on Soviet posters to decorate the office in Madrid.
• Space period posters
• Several souvenirs.

And finally the three most interesting things:

We found some space books. All of them dated between 1960 and 1981 and all of them are a tribute to Gagarin. Space aviation books with plenty of technical instructions, written with a ball pen, about impossible calculation numeric tables, books about space techniques... An absolute wonder.

Much more important than that, before this, I found the teaspoon. The Teaspoon!. That one Stan holds up during almost the whole the film, one of the central themes in the script. That one I thought it would take me some months to find. It is absolutely perfect. And even better, I could buy a pack of 6! One of them is Miriam´s. The other 5 will be sold at auction once the film is finished.

To end a great day, we found a soviet pins collection shop. One of the sheets was fully dedicated to space pins. All of them were true wonders. Finally, after a long negotiation in the middle of the market, we finalized a deal with the seller. He will be our supplier. Soon he will send us a stock list of his with dates and value for every item. Therefore, you will shortly get complete access to all of these wonders on our website. We have brought a little sample to Spain.

Star City. Interesting Facts

These are what we learnt from our conversation with the cosmonauts:

• The use of water is entirely different. You can wash your body fully with a maximum of 200ml, but it won´t even get you wet. It doesn´t stick to your skin. It just floats in front of you.
• Back on Earth, gravity becomes so important. Suddenly everything weighs. Everything feels much heavier than usual. When eating an apple you can feel every bite falling down into your stomach.
• Cosmonauts become used to leaving objects and tools floating around in the air while working, then taking them back again when finished. Back on Earth, it is difficult for them to get used to leaving things on the table. They try to leave them in the air and then things fall down like heavy stones.
• Before carrying out an important command, cosmonauts have to solve a riddle to make sure they haven't lost their faculties.
• Sergei thinks that NASA reached the Moon in 1969. "That was the only possible moment to do it. Before or after that moment they would never be so irresponsible as to try it out.
• The sight of the Sun in the out space is the most beautiful thing ever seen by man. It is not possible to describe it. Not possible to record it. Only human eye can look at it.
• Cosmonauts have free weekends too. Every Friday, on the International Space Station, cosmonauts from different countries meet to watch a film all together. Watching 2001: A Space Odyssey in the out space is an incredible experience.

NOTE:

Yesterday we received a call from ROSCOSMOS. They were writing the collaboration letter for us and they wanted to know if we could fulfill an essential requirement for them to give us their full consent.

They forgot to ask us about something they want to include in their collaboration letter. Suddenly everything went silent and Julia asked them about that special condition.

...

"The film won't look like Armagedon, will it?"

We burst into laughs and promised them it will have nothing to do with that!

Moscow day 5

"Suddenly everything was left in darkness. We all got still, trying to guess what was going on. For the first time in my life I heard the silence.

Silence does not exist in the space. If you can hear it out there something goes wrong, terribly wrong. All systems in the space ship were off and we had no idea why, not at all.

Little by little we began moving, slowly, trying carefully not to touch any important component. That moment I felt alone, horribly alone. We had no communication with Earth. Nothing.

On those moments you have to decide on a thousandth of a second if you want to risk your life. Probabilities of a hull crack and air leaking were really high. A piece of a star could have collide with us. We had just a few seconds to decide if using the emergency capsule and leave or saving the ship. We decided to save it.

We started switching on all systems and switches slowly, one by one. We had to be very careful to find out the failure. Little by little everything returned to normal.

It may not look very exciting, but it was the most tense hour and forty minutes in my entire life. I thought I was going to have a heart attack at any moment. I thought any of the ship members could go mad at any minute. I thought about the million things anyone does think when is about to die, alone, in the space. Nevertheless, we didn´t stop at all. Finally, we headed to Earth where we had lots of problems to land."

To read this story is exciting. To hear it directly from Boris Volynov, mission commander, is one of the best experiences possible. Yesterday we lived this and much more in the city of stars.

Star City, 13:00

After having a Coke in the canteen where cosmonauts have their lunch daily since 69 years ago, we were called to have our second interview. Sergei Alexandrovich Volkov came back from outer space 4 months ago. Sergei is incredibly tall and smart. He welcomed us in his military uniform. He looked like an unreal figure.

Sergei Volkov is son of cosmonaut Alexander Volkov. He is the youngest mission commander ever. He is a close person, with a good sense of humor and is incredibly pleasant. The chat with him was warmer, much more real. We talked about space, about the feeling of weightlessness, about silence and so many other things.

In the background, the fighter planes were flying over us non-stop. We asked him about some doubts to do with the script, about sound in space and about cosmonaut suits.

Sergei takes part enormously in our project, who knows if it is because of a well carried out press program or just true passion. We can hardly believe it. He signed pictures of himself for us to sell at an auction. He promised to give us a training costume he doesn't use anymore as a gift. He gave us permission to use his signature on our t-shirts, DVD´s and posters.

Finally he surprised us:

"We could organize it with enough time, we have to ask for permission, but I could go to Spain for the premiere. I could give some lectures. For free, don´t worry. Oh, there is something which is a bit more complicated, but it wouldn´t be the first time. Maybe if it coincides with any mission, we could release the film in the outer space."

An outer space premiere??

"Yes"

Wow!

Thank you Sergei Volkov. Thank you very much.

Star City, 11:00

Gagarin's home in Star City. Sixth floor. He was not at home.

After a one hour journey we arrived at Star City. The person in charge of the cosmonauts training welcomed us at the military control and took us through a very beautiful forest totally covered in snow. "The road of the guerrilla", he said. We were hearing jet engines flying over our heads all the time.

On arriving, we were welcomed by Boris Volynov on the museum's first floor. It would be silly to try to explain the excitement when shaking the hand of a cosmonaut that flew as commander rank on missions Soyuz-5 and 21 in 1969 and 1976 respectively.

And the same happened while he was telling us about his heroic space deeds in a friendly and easy tone.

To read about the great deed Volynov made during the landing of the Soyuz 5 is hair-rising. He was remembering how all his teeth were broken when he landed on the floor after descending at 200 km per hour, at 6000 Celsius and how he had to walk for kilometers until reaching an inhabitated place, at 38 degrees below zero, is something very hard to explain with words.

Finally, after almost an hour chatting we made a picture together and he signed many others for us to sell at auction in order to get funds for the film.

Onboard Diary. Moscow day 4

Today I´ve been dragging 30kg weighted cosmonaut costume for some kilometers in the streets of Moscow.

At the beginning was fun. I imagined myself carrying out a heroic mission. Later, muscles in my hands were really hurting and I just wanted to arrive.

Fortunately, that effort will be rewarded.

After the meeting with Francisco Javier García -Larrache Olalquiaga, Russian Embassy Cultural Attaché, he nearly assured us they will be able to carry the costumes to Spain on diplomatic bag.

This takes many problems up and calms me greatly. A charming person with marvelous solutions. (I think he will be pleased to write another support letter for us)

Apart from that, Moscow still looks odd to me. The only thing I know for sure is I am a privileged visitor.

These last days I´ve felt the presence of the great Masters. I´ve seen Maiakovski writing his verses in square in the city.

"I want to be understood by my country,

But if I am not, what to do,

I will go past in the land of my birth like oblique rain does"

I felt the presence of Tarkovsky, with his clumsy and disoriented footsteps. I´ve seen him looking at a shop window near the Kremlin and watching melancholic in a café while writing down some notes.

Later I saw myself reflected on a glass and I felt small, intruder, foreigner.

Tonight we´ll go and see Argentinean Milonga. Will the Muscovites be able to recreate the passion from the city of Buenos Aires?? I´m sure they will.

Onboard Diary. Moscow day 3

It took me three days to begin writing this short road diary. Till today I was just strolling out of time around the cold and blue streets. Till today time looked stopped to me.

Two contradictory feelings face each other in Moscow. One of them is antiquity. Everything is huge, majestic. Every building brings us back to a great period.

Another one is rising modernity. Anyone can see hundreds of McDonald´s everywhere, or buy Nivea cream at the supermarket, smocking a Marlboro cigarette while watching shoes at Zara.

However, anyone can get any of the million typical products fully crowding all shelves.

Until today I hadn´t realized that Moscow is a terribly distant city. Its inhabitants are some cold and you better don´t expect warm kindness from them at all. At the same time is a warm city in deed where feeling at home takes you just a couple of days.

And that´s the reason why this diary begins today, because so many things happened to make me feel among the stars. At home.

We got up early this morning. I´ve been working on the lecture I will give at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) of Russia (MGIMO), where I´ve been invited to talk about "cultural identity on Spanish cinema".

I will show some fragments from Val del Omar´s work, who will concentrate most of my talk. I will talk about Buñuel, Zulueta and Víctor Erice as well.

I hope the information in my head about Spanish cinema will be enough for their interest.

Later we´ve gone to the Russian State Institute of Cinematography. The mythical VGIK. Almost a sacred place which saw passing by important figures like Sokurov, Konchalovsky, Eisenstein, Dovzhenko, Pudovkin, Mikhail Romm, Vadim Tusov or my beloved Andrei Tarkovski.

We visited the facilities. Some students where experimenting on 35mm with light on a character. I gave them a Polaroid. I´ve been chatting about digital edition with an analog editor. She is cutting celluloid since 42 years. She thanked me for truly respecting her work. We´ve seen art students painting, actors dancing, directors planning future practices.

And finally we´ve been received by Tatiana Storchak Nikolaevna, school´s Vice-Chancellor.

She did encourage us with our project, specially praising the artistic and practical part of our financial and distribution model.

We are in contact with her to organize a talk with students to explain them the model and discuss it, may be during production lessons. I wish it will happen.

Finally we offered her spanish typical marzipan as a gift and she gave us back a camera-shaped clock, from the 90th anniversary. My hands were trembling when touched it.

We had just left, the sun was shining on the snow fully covering the street when Julia´s cell started ringing. After the conversation she could hardly control herself. We began dancing and jumping in the street until she calmed down and explained everything to me.

We have a support letter from ROSCOSMOS (Russian Federal Space Agency), the most important space organism together with NASA in the history of aeronautic aviation.

They support the project. But not just that, they have sent a fax-communiqué to all Space Agencies in Russian territory to help us anyway we may need. On Friday we´ll go and visit the City of Stars: the mythical Gagarin Space Center where cosmonauts of many countries in the world have been training for 50 years. I can hardly believe it.

We also got a meeting with three cosmonauts.

One of them, Boris Volynov, flew on missions Soyuz 5 and 21. The other two are current cosmonauts.

They came back from out space little time ago: Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko. We´ll have lunch together and talk about their life and script details. It will be a historic moment.

At the end of the day the cosmonaut costumes have arrived to our place here. Old, worn, impressive...I couldn´t hold myself back.

May be, if we are lucky enough, the costumes will be sent on diplomatic mail by the spanish embassy in Moscow so we get rid of costume matters. I hope it so. It´s one o´clock in the morning and I still have some work to do. Another million of marvelous circumstances will happen tomorrow and I will enjoy every second on this profession of mine.

See you tomorrow, wish you dreams about long distance flights.

Nicolás Alcalá.

Gagarin was human, anyway

Y así comenzó toda esta locura. Con un vuelo. Como una gaviota Visto en English Russia