posted 11-14-2017 08:50 AM               

Have I told you before that I have been working on a documentary film about Chesley Bonestell since 2015, with Ron Miller and a film producer in southern California? Ron and I are both credited as Co-Producers on the film.

Here is our film's website; note the stellar list of PARTICIPANTS. And watch the trailer!

The film is in post-production status. Rough cuts have been submitted to the Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, San Francisco, Seattle and Edinburgh film festivals. We're all hoping to hear some good news from these organizations when they make their final decisions. The full film is due to be finished by the end of the year. No distribution plans have been set as of now, pending what happens at the above-mentioned film festivals.

There is an IMDB entry for the film.

posted 08-01-2018 09:54 AM               

Comic-Con Names 'Chesley Bonestell' Best Documentary

The feature-length film "Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future" has been awarded Best Documentary in this year's 2018 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival.

The film's producer/writer/director Douglass M. Stewart, Jr. said, "It's an incredible honor just to have the film screened at Comic-Con. To win the award for Best Documentary just takes the whole thing over the top!"

The documentary, the first of it kind, chronicles the life of forgotten artist and architect Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986). Bonestell contributed to the designs of the Chrysler Building and The Golden Gate Bridge, and worked as a special effects matte painter on films that included "Citizen Kane" and "The Fountainhead." Bonestell has been dubbed "The Father of Space Art" for a series of breathtaking paintings that depicted planetary vistas in our solar system, originally published in Life magazine in 1944.

Bonestell teamed up with rocket engineers Willy Ley and Wernher von Braun on a number of best-selling books on space travel that included "The Conquest of Space" and "The Exploration of Mars." The origins of America's space program can be traced back to their work. Bonestell continued on in Hollywood playing key creative roles in films such as "Destination Moon" (1950) and "The War of The Worlds" (1953).

"Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future" includes rare footage of Bonestell himself and archival perspectives of his work by sci-fi author Ray Bradbury. Also featured are Douglas Trumbull ("2001: A Space Odyssey") and Star Wars veterans Ben Burtt, Craig Barron and Richard Edlund. Sunset Magazine Editor-in-Chief Irene Edwards and Astronomer Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz are among the many perspectives given by people who knew Bonestell or were profoundly influenced by him.

"Here we are on the eve of the 50th anniversary of man's first walk on the moon. It's time we turned the spotlight on Chesley Bonestell, whose unforgettable paintings of the moon and outer space helped us make the bold leap across the Final Frontier," said Stewart.

"Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future" was produced by DMS Production Services, Inc. Space artist Ron Miller and Bonestell historian Melvin Schuetz served as co-producers.

posted 10-22-2020 12:56 PM               

The amazing story of Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) - a forgotten artist who worked on the Chrysler Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, movies like Citizen Kane and Destination Moon, and helped inspire America's space program with his futuristic paintings.