Launch

"Launch" is an artistic impression of America's space program, culminating with coverage of the space shuttle's return to flight. It is a meditation on the end of an era. The film imagines a space center deserted as nature has begun to reclaim the complex. A hurricane swells and takes over. Finally, the eye of the storm arrives allowing one last rocket to escape carrying the last humans off the planet.

"Launch" was awarded Rooftop Films 2004 Filmmakers' Fund Grant and the Experimental Television Center's Finishing Funds 2006 award.
(The Experimental Television Center's Finishing Funds program is supported by the Electronic Film and Media Program at the New York State Council on the Arts.)


Notable screenings:

Launch lead the program "Glassing the Landscape" at Union Docs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, June 11, 2010 at 7:30pm.
    "Glassing the Landscape" was curated by Brian Doyle and revisited a theme first explored at the Henry Art Gallery for Launch's premiere:     observational films of quiet vision and lurking power. This program included works from the Henry screening, including films by Dominique     Gonzalez-Foerster, Jem Cohen, and Bill Brown, and new titles to the program by Jeanne Liotta, Skip Blumberg, Pawel Wojtasik, and     Semiconductor. Brian Doyle is a 2009 Artists’ Fellowship recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This presentation is
    co-sponsored by the Artists & Audiences Exchange, a public program of NYFA.

Launch started airing on Souvenirs from Earth television in France and Germany on March 20, 2010.

Launch screened in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival in the program "Environmental Rupture" in 2008. Play and email the trailer for Launch directly from the film guide. See a 2 min. director's biography video relating to Launch. More info on Tribeca's shorts program here.

Launch had its European Premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2008. See Brian in action at IFFR here.

Additional screenings are listed here.

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