Andrei Ujica: Out of the Present

»Out of the Present« [Germany, 1995; 96 min. Original with German subtitles]

»Out of the Present« was the non-fiction film of the 1990s. This internationally acclaimed montage film, which uses mostly documentary video material of a space mission, tells the story of the Soviet cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, who sets off for the MIR space station in May 1991. During his stay in space, which lasts twice as long as planned, the August coup is staged in Moscow and the Soviet Union disintegrates. Krikalev is the first person to observe the end of an historical era from a divine perspective. Critics have compared »Out of the Present« with masterpieces such as Kubrick’s »2001: An Odyssey in Space« and Tarkowski’s »Solaris«.