EXCLUSIVE: In the documentary Earth to Michael, making its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend, a cute little boy wearing an Endeavour Space Shuttle sweatshirt is interviewed by a reporter. She asks him his name and then inquires, “And where’s your daddy?”
The boy, Nico López-Alegría, pauses for a moment and then answers, “In space.”
At that moment, López-Alegría’s father, the astronaut Michael López-Alegría, indeed was on a mission at the International Space Station. Roughly 250 miles then separated the child from his dad high above Earth, but in the years following, the psychic space between them would only grow.
Courtesy of Alegría
The documentary, premiering Saturday at the 52nd edition of Telluride, marks the feature directorial debut of Nico López-Alegría and the filmmaker who goes by the moniker ZZ. We have your first look at the film in the clip above.
“Before an astronaut leaves Earth to usher in a new era of spaceflight, his son asks him to explore the unresolved space between them,” reads the film synopsis. “Michael last went to space when Nico was six. During his time in orbit, their family broke apart. Although Michael returned to Earth, he never came home. Now he’s headed back to space, 15 years later. Can Nico bridge the distance before he leaves?”
“Equal parts interstellar and intimate,” the synopsis continues, “this coming-of-age story confronts two men of different generations, asking us what sacrifices we’ll make for our loved ones to achieve their dreams.”
‘Earth to Michael’
Courtesy of Alegría
In an interview for press notes for Earth to Michael, López-Alegría comments, “We never thought of this film specifically as a documentary – even though it’s my real-life family. The film’s purpose wasn’t so much about arriving at an objective truth like in traditional documentaries, it was more so about understanding each of our perspectives on the same story – and through it, growing closer… The idea of home will always be something I reach for in my work; and my dad’s unexpressed depth and complexity is a long-time subject of fascination for me.”
ZZ observed, “Seeing Michael and Nico interact – there was obviously so much love there, but also pain – it reminded me of periods in my own relationship with my father. I also particularly related to the feeling of not being told the entire story as a kid, when my parents got divorced. Whose responsibility is it to reckon with divorce and create the space for conversation and healing? Often the kid feels that, since it was their parents’ choice to divorce, the parents are the ones who should bring it up and provide closure. But the parents already know the truth of what happened, and it’s often too painful for them to share voluntarily.”
Earth to Michael is directed by Nico López-Alegría & ZZ and produced by ZZ, Steffie van Rhee, Dustin Nakao-Haider, and Nico López-Alegría. Marley McDonald and Sammy Dane edited the film; the director of photography is Steve McCord. Jackson Greenberg composed the original music for the film.
Watch the exclusive clip from Earth to Michael above.
