The Challenge (2023 movie)
| The Challenge | |
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 Poster of The Challenge on a 2023 stamp of Russia | |
| Directed by | Klim Shipenko |
| Screenplay by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Tim Pavelko |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Central Partnership |
Release date |
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| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
The Challenge | |
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_cast.jpg) | |
| Space career | |
| A film shot on a space station | |
Time in space | 11 days, 22 hours and 13 minutes (35–40 minutes of production) |
| Missions | Soyuz MS-19/Soyuz MS-18 (Expedition 65) (Equipment launched on Progress MS-17[1] and returned on Soyuz MS-18) |
Mission insignia |  |
The Challenge (Russian: Вызов, romanized: Vyzov) or Doctor's House Call is a 2023 Russian space docudrama movie by Klim Shipenko. The movie is the first time a professional actor has been filmed in space by a professional director, as other films before were filmed and acted in by astronauts/cosmonauts/space tourists (space tourists that were amateur both in film-making and as astronauts) or used footage from automated equipment. Apogee of Fear was written by a professional scriptwriter, and with some graphics assets done by a professional, but had no other filming professionals involved.[2][3][4] and was theatrically released in Russia on 12 April 2023 by Central Partnership.
Two television series accompanied the film: a 10-episode The Challenge. First in space (Russian: Вызов. Первые в космосе, romanized: Vyzov. Pervye v kosmose) detailed the selection of the leading actress and the director/operator who would go to space, in elimination reality-show style, their subsequent training and travel; and The Challenge. About the film that conquered space (Russian: Вызов. О фильме, покорившем космос, romanized: Vyzov. O filme, pokorivshem kosmos) with 8 mini-episodes about making the movie in orbit (and a "zero'th" episode from the premiere).
As the accompanying series stressed, this was a true collaboration between Russian movie and space industries, being not only an entertainment project, but also a leap in methodology for selection and training of cosmonauts that could get ready for flight in under 4 months despite lacking a technical education. This got tested when they had a situation in orbit, where the creative "participants of the flight, not tourists!" performed their right-seat and left-seat activities needed for manual docking to the ISS, assisting the central-seat professional pilot. According to filming plan, over 35 minutes of in-movie footage were shot directly in space (picked from about 70 hours filmed there overall), with just a few exterior shots using CGI.
Plot
[change | change source]Cosmonaut Ivanov (Oleg Bogdanov in original Russian version) loses consciousness while ISS must perform evasive maneuvers. Doctors decide that it will be necessary to perform heart surgery right in zero gravity. Cardiac surgeon Zhenya, who does not have time to raise her teenage daughter, is planning the operation for her colleagues being tested for the flight, when she herself is suddenly picked.[5]
NOTE: Revise this article against the English version of the film: originally the incident, operation and doctors are about a torn lung.
Cast
[change | change source]- Yulia Peresild as Evgenia 'Zhenya', a heart surgeon, and female cosmonaut
- Vladimir Mashkov as head of mission control
- Miloš Biković as Vladislav Nikolaev
- Klim Shipenko as a cosmonaut
- Alyona Mordovina as a woman cosmonaut
- Tatyana Dogileva
- Sergey Burunov
- Polina Agureeva
- Oleg Novitsky as Ivanov (the sick astronaut[6])
- Aleksandr Baluev as head of Roskosmos
- Igor Gordin
- Alexey Barabash
Cameos
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ "Equipment for shooting 1st movie in space delivered to ISS by Russian cargo spacecraft". 2 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
- ↑ "Russia to Open New Frontier in Space, Shooting First Full-Length Movie". New York Times. 16 September 2021.
- ↑ Susanna Alperina (27 July 2021). "Ernst told the details about the film "Challenge"". Russian newspaper.
- ↑ "Выбраны 20 претенденток на роль в фильме, который будут снимать на МКС" (in Russian). Интерфакс. 9 March 2021.
- ↑ "Первые в космосе". Страница проекта на сайте Первого канала.
- ↑ Fictional ill astronaut is Ivanov so Novitsky may be the sick astronaut
- ↑ He paid for the seats of the film crew
Other websites
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