Our film, The Stars at Night was inspired by a personal awakening to the fact that I had never seen the Milky Way.
Days after moving to the beautiful Texas Hill Country, and excited to finally see this majestic sight for myself, I was incredibly dismayed that it was impossible— even though my home was an hour from Austin and an hour from San Antonio, literally deep in the heart of Texas.
If the film was inspired by this idea, it was fueled by a group of people I now consider close friends. I came to find out they were all just as curious and passionate about the stars as I am.
After learning about light pollution I was really shocked. I had created and produced numerous television series and films about the environment, and yet I was oblivious to the issue of skyglow and its devastating impact to our ability to see the stars. Delving into the issue I found that according to Dark Sky International reporting on a 2016 study that “80% of the world population lives under skyglow.”
In thinking more about it, I realized that I really wanted to tell a story; not just about the mechanics of rolling back light pollution, but about why we, as human beings look to the starts and feel moved, sometimes to deep emotion and awe. I was deeply curious: why was that? As a writer, thinking about ancient myths from around the world, I wondered: did the stars inspire original storytelling? And, more than anything I wanted to embark on a journey to finally see the Milky Way.
Becoming a part of night sky group eager to build awareness of the issues and solutions to light pollution I serendipitously found our core team.
The first and primary figure in this tale is the film’s producer, Ryan Sultemeier. When I pitched him the idea, his enthusiasm is what made the project real. As I recall, his response was. “That’s really cool!”. With that, this film was born. Our teamwork of just two people could drive this project forward. I could write and conduct interviews, while Ryan could shoot, record sound, and edit.
One of our Comal Night Sky organizers mentoring the formation of our advocacy group was Amy Jackson, a graduate of Rice University and a Night Sky Educator with her non-profit, Starry Sky Austin. After one of our Night Sky group zooms in which I mentioned I was making the film, Amy reached out to volunteer both her services and that of her husband, Austin City Limits producer and cinematographer, Jonathan Jackson. I was astounded. “You know we don’t have any budget, right?” Yes, they knew. And they agreed.
At the heart of the film is a journey of four young filmmakers to the Big Bend National Park, well known to have one of the darkest skies in North America. I recruited four former students, all young filmmakers curious to tell their own story, some of which would be used on the longer film.We wrote for a grant in which everyone would be paid for their time and licensing fee for footage. We didn’t get the grant. While disappointed, Ryan and I hatched an idea. We created “The Executive Producer Experience” in which major donors would not only be a part of the film with their names in the opening credits, but also join us on our journey to discover some of the darkest skies in north America.
This endeavor worked— a little. We raised enough money for expenses, but nothing more. All fees would be have to be deferred. Ryan and I gathered the group— were they in? They were!
And what followed was the formation of a tight knit team of people: filmmakers, experts, editors, our wonderful composer, an amazing storyteller, former students, and interns who wanted to join the ride in the making of this film for deferred fees. How did this happen? I believe for the joy of the process and for being a part of something that might actually make a difference. For me it has been exactly that: A JOY — all the way through. Not that It was ever exactly easy. But, it was always a joy.
Our journey took us to the Big Bend National Park where, to quote the National park website: “where night skies are dark as coal.” We (as in Cinematographer Jonathan Jackson and Producer Ryan Sultemeier) shot some gorgeous astrophotography time-lapse in the Basin as well as Terlingua. It was June, the best time of year to see the Milky Way.
On another trip this team, along with student filmmaker Will Fitzpatrick, photographed a time lapse of the White Shaman Mural just outside of Seminole Canyon State Park, as well as drone footage of the Pecos River at sunrise.
To me, one of the most amazing things about this journey and the creation of this film is that it was made with almost no money, but primarily donations to my nonprofit, Environmental Arts Alliance, which covered expenses. Yes, it was an enormous idea about the universe. Created with very little money. But that’s what we did.
Now as we embark on this next phase to find distribution through festival, astronomy, community and national park screenings (which have already begun playing to sold out crowds) we never forget our mission: Not only to repay these wonderful filmmakers, but to build an impact campaign of awareness that We CAN save our night skies. This effort has already begun with screenings in Pakistan and in Kenya, and our goral is to continue to reach out to global communities through our night sky partners in Kenya, Pakistan, TheNetherlands, and Vietnam.
And, hopefully through you, our readers and supporters everywhere.
There are too many stories about the making of this film for one blog post. So, please stay tuned for more about our wonderful participants in this film! Storytellers, astronomers, mythologists, artists, astrophotographers, archeologists and more,
All of the stories about the making of this film are about being joined together by a passion for the stars, united by a phrase coined by astrophotography contributor and expert, Babak Tafreshi: we are all “One people under one sky”.
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