SMPTE has announced that Todd Douglas Miller, the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed “Apollo 11” moon landing documentary, will present the keynote at the 2019 NAB Show’s Future of Cinema Conference (FoCC), produced in partnership with SMPTE.
NAB Show’s FoCC, “Now, Next, and Beyond the Yellow Brick Road,” will take place April 6-7 in Las Vegas. Scheduled for 9:10 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, Miller’s keynote will describe the process of making “Apollo 11,” which premiered Jan. 24 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received a Special Grand Jury Prize for Editing.
“Our intention with ‘Apollo 11’ was to make an art film out of all of the archival materials that we had available, and in the end, we created a direct, fly-on-the-wall cinema experience,” said Miller. “Both the art and science of working with images and sound were critical throughout this project, and I look forward to discussing how they came together during the process of making ‘Apollo 11’ a reality.”
Working with pristine, unprocessed, never-before-seen 65mm footage recently discovered in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as well as 11,000 hours of uncatalogued NASA audio recordings, Miller and his colleagues first digitized and restored the film. Next, the team created an 8K transfer that represents the highest-resolution, highest-quality digital collection of Apollo 11 footage. The 93-minute motion picture, which was cut from this transfer, revives the historic 1969 moon landing by Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin with breathtaking clarity.
“Apollo 11” opens exclusively in Imax theaters on March 1 and everywhere on March 8, and is being distributed by NEON/CNN Films.
“Todd and his colleagues undertook a monumental challenge in making ‘Apollo 11,’” said FoCC Program Committee chair and 30 Ninjas CEO Julina Tatlock, who is also an award-winning writer-producer, virtual reality (VR) director, and social TV specialist. “In addition to creating an astounding cinematic experience, they restored, digitized, and catalogued a wealth of audio and video representing one of the United States’ greatest achievements. We’re excited to be giving FoCC attendees the opportunity to hear this remarkable story, especially given this is the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing.”
Miller’s work also includes the Emmy® Award-winning “Dinosaur 13,” which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Lionsgate and CNN Films. His other films include “Gahanna Bill,” “Scaring the Fish,” and “The Last Steps.” Miller’s company, Statement Pictures, based in Brooklyn, New York, produces feature-length films, documentaries, and large-format/Imax films for science centers and museums. His short-form work has won numerous international and national awards, including the CINE Golden Eagle, Telly, Aurora, and AXIEM Award.
