Out of the Present

In August 1991, tanks advanced on the White House, the administrative centre in Moscow. The fact that the coup failed was the result of Gorbachev’s indomitability, discord among the conservatives and massive demonstrations by the people. In OUT OF THE PRESENT, we see someone who was not present: the Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. In May 1991, he left for the Mir space station from the Soviet Union and when he returned in March 1992, his motherland was called the Russian Federation. The long takes of slow orbits in space versus short, chaotic takes of the rapid changes on earth speak for themselves. There is no voice-over just comment by fellow cosmonaut Anatoli Artsebarski, who left at the same time as Krikalev, but was allowed to return home earlier. Russian filmmaker Andrei Ujica provided the Mir occupants with a 35mm camera and video equipment. From mission control on earth, cameraman Vadim Yusov (responsible for Tarkovski’s SOLARIS and other films) gave them instructions.. The initial intention was to visualise the contrast between heroism and hard work in space. But due to the political revolutions in the autumn of 1991, another story was added. Krikalev’s reaction to the earthly changes is sober: ‘For a cosmonaut, the speed with which day and night and the seasons fly by is more impressive.’ OUT OF THE PRESENT lasts for 92 minutes, the precise time the spaceship takes to orbit the earth once.