PAINTING THE WAY TO THE MOON

ABOUT

SYNOPSIS: Painting the Way to the Moon is a 54 minute HD feature documentary about Princeton mathematician Ed Belbruno. In the 1980's, Ed worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab by day and made space-inspired paintings by night. In his free time, Ed became obsessed with figuring out a new way of space travel, and over five years he toiled to find a solution. But it wasn't until he turned to his oil paints and canvas that he made his breakthrough.

MUSIC: Jazz artist, Jon Irabagon (Composer) contributed much of Painting the Way to the Moon's music, including the main theme song which he composed for the film. Jon is the winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition and has performed extensively as both a sideman and as a leader in an ever-expanding range of projects, from the most straight ahead to the most searching. His latest album Outright! Unhinged has received positive reviews and praise from critics and fans.

FUNDING: Painting the Way to the Moon was financed by the producers and a successful Kickstarter campaign with 323 fans of the film.

ED BELBRUNO

EDWARD BELBRUNO received his doctorate in mathematics in 1980 from the Courant Institute of New York University. He studied under Juergen Moser. His research interests are in celestial mechanics, dynamical systems, astrodynamics, astrophysics and cosmology.

His early work in 1986 led to a new approach to space travel by the use of chaos dynamics to obtain low energy trajectories, that require less fuel. This work was dramatically demonstrated in 1991 with the salvage of a Japanese lunar spacecraft, Hiten, successfully getting it to the Moon on a new type of transfer requiring almost no fuel. This transfer used automatic capture, where capture into orbit about the Moon is obtained without the use of rockets. The methodology he developed for this is called weak stability boundary theory.

From 2011 through 2013, he has published several papers in different areas that have gained new insights. These include:

1) New approach to understanding motion about a black hole, using a McGehee regularization transformation

2) New results on the lithopanspermia hypothesis on the origin of life, using minimal energy transfers

3) New approach to studying the big bang singularity, using regularization theory

4) New types of low energy transfers to the Moon and beyond

5) Understanding the connection of weak stability boundaries and manifolds

Ed is a research collaborator at the department of astrophysical science at Princeton University, director of the research company Innovative Orbital Design, and a visiting scholar at New York University, Courant Institute. He consults regularly with NASA and leading aerospace organizations. He has been interviewed on many radio and television programs, including NBC's Today Show. He has published two books with Princeton University Press, his most recent entitled, Fly me to the Moon. Ed has been painting since childhood. Infused with science and sci-fi themes, his art features prominently in Painting the Way to the Moon.

LINKS: Ed's Publications & Resume, Ed's Painting

THE FILMMAKERS

PAINTING THE WAY TO THE MOON was created and produced by a team of three filmmakers:

Jacob Akira Okada's (Producer, Director, Camera) first film CURTIS received Honorable Mention at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. His first job out of school was as assistant editor on the two part series on Martin Luther King, Jr., CITIZEN KING (dir. Orlando Bagwell & W. Noland Walker). Jacob co-produced and shot the Emmy nominated documentary OFF AND RUNNING (dir. Nicole Opper), which premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast nationally on PBS. He shot key scenes in LOVE FREE OR DIE (dir. Macky Alston), which won a Special Jury Prize for An Agent of Change at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast nationally on PBS, and FIRST COMES LOVE (dir. Nina Davenport), which premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and will broadcast on HBO. Contact: jacobokada1@gmail.com

Adam Morrow (Producer, Editor) has over a decade of experience as a film editor and artist specializing in visual effects. His effects work includes making prosthetic masks for the artist Phillip Toledano; leading the special effects team on the Lionsgate feature film MULBERRY STREET; and bloodying kung-fu fighters for a music video featuring The RZA. Adam's clients include the Onion Network, the Cartoon Network, MTV, and more. You can see his work at eyespotpictures.com. Contact: eyespots13@gmail.com

Carylanna Taylor (Producer) is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a PhD in anthropology with research and teaching experience in the U.S. and Latin America. Painting the Way to the Moon is her first documentary. She has enjoyed helping bring out the science/art connections in the film and coordinating pre- and post- production. Contact: carylanna@gmail.com