Ulrike Kubatta
London, United Kingdom
Female
About
SHE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THE MOON
58:00 mins./2007
Director: Ulrike Kubatta
Producer: Mark Lonsdale
She Should Have Gone To The Moon is a unique documentary portrait of the American pilot, Jerri Truhill.
The film tells the remarkable story of a wife, mother and aviator, who as part of the Mercury 13, became one of the first women trained by NASA to go into space.
Truhill's story takes in childhood dreams of becoming a pilot, secret flying lessons as a teenager, setting up an aviation business in a hostile all male environment, becoming a model and style icon, winning cross-America air races and then undergoing severe and protracted astronaut training.
As the cold war unfolded the women were all unceremoniously dismissed from the Mercury programme, leading to an angry Jerri confronting President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The film is a unique blend of interviews with Jerri, period archive material and stylised dramatic sequences, all framed by Jerri attending the launch of Eileen Collins' led Space Shuttle mission.
Quotes(1)
“She Should Have Gone To The Moon is like a Twin Peaks episode masquerading as a documentary about the Mercury 13, a band of valiant women pilots who went through rigorous NASA mandated training in preparation for joining their male counterparts in the space program.
Fascinating and weird;”
Screenings
March 9th 2008, The Imperial War Museum, London; April 2nd 2008 - Renoir Cinema London (LIDF); April 17th 2008 - IFEMA 2008 Malmo Sweden; May 4th 2008 - Mid Ulster Film Festival, Northern Ireland; May 19th 2008 - Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival, Turkey; September 2008 - Cambridge Film Festival, UK; October 5th 2008 - San Diego Women's Film Festival; October 29th 2008 - Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK; November 2008 - Leeds International Film Festival, UK; November 2008 - Dallas Video Festival, USA; November 2008 - QUAD, Derby, UK; December 2008 -Cinecity, Brighton, UK; March 2009 - Cinema Centre Skalvija, Lithuania; March 2009 - Female Eye Film Festival, Canada; April 2009 - Oxford International Documentary Film Festival, UK; April 2009 - White Sands International Film Festival, USA; April 2009 - Davis Feminist Film Festival, USA; June 11th 2009 - Light House, Wolverhampton, UK; October 2009 - Baltimore Womens Film Festival, USA;