Best Documentary Winner on "Father of Space Art" Returns to Washington DC Area for Free Screening

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"More than three decades after his death in 1986, Chesley Bonestell remains one of the most important and influential astronomical artists ever to put paint to canvas." - Don Vaughan, Filmfax Magazine

ARLINGTON, Va. - EntSun -- You don't have to be a member of the National Space Society to attend their 2019 ISDC Film Festival and see the multi-award-winning film Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future. This documentary, showcased in April at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, returns for a free public screening on the evening of June 8^th in the Galaxy Ballroom at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) is credited as a quiet force behind the creation of America's space program. From the 1940's through the 1960's, his breathtaking paintings of distant planets and stars ignited the imaginations of everyone who saw them. One of his most iconic paintings, "Saturn as seen from Titan" (1944), has been dubbed "the painting that launched a thousand careers."

"We're just weeks away from commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and it's an honor to screen Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future at such an important gathering dedicated to space exploration and its future," said filmmaker Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. "This special film is about a mostly-forgotten artist who helped get us to the lunar surface and beyond, not with technology, but with a paint brush. After seeing the film, many people say to me 'How come I've never heard of this man before?'"

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Bonestell also explored a different starry realm after moving to Hollywood where his iconic matte paintings created movie magic in science fiction film classics like Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, Conquest of Space and The War of the Worlds.

Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future is the first film ever made about the artist and features rare interviews with him as well as numerous others who personally knew Bonestell or were influenced by his art.

"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 their website.

This year's 2019 International Space Development Conference marks the inauguration of the ISDC Film Festival (https://isdc2019.nss.org/home/about/special-events/). Created by National Space Society President Geoffrey Notkin, the festival also features three other films, beginning Thursday, June 6^th at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel. For a full schedule, click here. The screenings are free and open to the public. After the screening of Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future on June 8^th, there will be a special Q&A with Producer/Director/Writer Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. and one of the film's two Co-producers, Ron Miller. Mr. Miller is a renowned space artist, author of more than fifty books about art, science and space and co-author of the Hugo Award-winning book, The Art of Chesley Bonestell. For more information about the film, please visit chesleybonestell.com (http://www.chesleybonestell.com/). For more information about the National Space Society and the ISDC, please visit their isdc2019.nss.org.

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More about the Film:

Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future was named Best Documentary at the 2019 Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and 2018 San Diego Comic-Con, as well as winning a coveted Audience Award at the 2018 Newport Beach Film Festival. The film will be reviewed in the National Space Society's Spring 2019 (Volume 31, Number 2) issue of Ad Astra Magazine, which is due out shortly.

https://youtu.be/tASO0YHxRE4

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Best Documentary Winner on "Father of Space Art" Returns to Washington DC Area for Free Screening