Italian Astronauts in Kazakhstan: Bonavina's 'Expedition' presented in Astana

Astana – The Italian Embassy in Astana with the support of Thales Alenia Spazio has organized a preview of the documentary film "Expedition" directed by Alessandra Bonavina, filmed under the patronage of the Italian Space Agency. The preview generated huge interest among Kazakhs who arrived in big groups to the cinema to watch the movie, which is dedicated to the mission of Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli July to December of last year to the International Space Station. The film "Expedition" also shows fragments dedicated to Kazakhstan and Baikonur Cosmodrome. At the screening of the documentary, director Alessandra Bonavina answered to the questions of  AGI.

- What are your expectations from the showing of your movie Expedition in Astana? What is the major idea you want to communicate to the Kazakh audience?

​The documentary wants to tell the efforts of media and men who are behind the scenes of a space mission, the idea of the documentary is to introduce Italian excellence in the space sector made of large companies but also small start-ups that contribute to the success of the missions.

-Your movie tells a story about the joint quest of humanity to explore space. However, today the world is being divided into East and West, North and South. Do you think politics can prevent humankind from achieving new goals in space discovery?

No, absolutely, the International Space Station demonstrates this but I rather hope that the space sector would teach to the politicians the following notion: "if we cooperate we reach the objectives".

- What role does Kazakhstan play in Global Space Community? What do you think about the perspectives of Baikonur, the largest and oldest spaceport of the world?   

 In the recent years Kazakhstan has played an important role in space travel, which is now the only place from where the ISS can be reached, apart from China, which is not part of the International Space Station program. It seems like a growing country so I imagine it continues its expansion also in this sector.

- Kazakh-Italian cooperation in culture and art has significantly increased in recent years. A. Musakhajayeva has received the Italian president’s award. What is the current level of this cooperation? How do you think it could be increased?

 It seems to me that there is a constant exchange between the two countries of various cultural initiatives and also this movie preview in Astana is a  proof of this, which is also an initiative of the Italian embassy in Astana. The documentary focuses on the final and exciting phases of the mission of Paolo Nespoli.

- Have you ever wanted to direct any movies about Kazakhstan?  What are the perspectives for joint Kazakh-Italian projects in cinema in the future?

I do not know much about this country but I find it very fascinating and still too little known about Kazakshtan. It would be nice to be able to tell it through a dedicated documentary.