The FARTHEST
by Karen Pecota

One of Ireland's leading documentary producers, Emer Reynolds is making world-wide recognition with his latest film THE FARTHEST. A lifelong passion for space exploration, it is fitting that the renowned Irish filmmaker, Reynolds, combine his love of physics and math to share the remarkable impact of the space Voyager twin probes.

Reynolds says, "In the 4.5 billion years of Planet Earth, modern humans have been around for barely 200,000 years, have developed technology in the last few hundred and have just now reached interstellar space." He continues, "The story of Voyager thrills me to the core."

Reynolds is the perfect director to tell this story. He collaborates along with Ireland's leading documentary producers, Crossing the Line Productions, and a host of professional filmmakers and science guru's fill out the perfect cast and crew.

Synopsis:

The first man-made object to travel 12 billion miles away in a tiny spaceship is leaving our Solar System to enter into the vast depths of space. It's actually slowly dying. The generator that is still within this tiny floating object will more than likely last another decade and then the lights will go out. The mind-boggling point to think about is that this little craft could travel in space for millions of years. Built into its craft is a memory bank holding recordings and images of life on Earth. The scientists of the Voyager say that it could outlive humanity as we know it. It's the one thing that could 'show and tell' of our existence.

Reynolds documents, "The story of the Voyager is an epic of human achievement, personal drama and almost miraculous success."

In the autumn of 1977, the twin Voyager space probes were launched sixteen days apart. They've gone through a lot of trauma: including several near misses. Forty-years later the two probes continue to supply remarkable information ranging from incredible distances apart from one another. The Voyager twins have less computer power than the average hearing aid and yet they have provided amazing secrets about our Solar System.

One surprise discovery is noted in the film when trying to locate the placement of our planet Earth. One day Voyager scientists were looking though a super high powered photographic video camera using a specific lens following the Solar System’s landscape and they couldn't find Earth. Tension and worry mounted among the specialists. After several hours of research Earth was found. Instead of a big blue-ish ball in our Galaxy it was found as a "tiny" little blue dot within a beautifully colorful ring of fire-ish looking substance similar in appearance to what we see in a ring around Saturn. I can only imagine the shock and the joy of those who first made this discovery being overwhelmingly emotional.

Reynolds' THE FARTHEST is an intellectually, detailed and passionate narrative told by people, sharing thoughts by word, images and archives on a truly epic cinematic canvas. Reynolds says, "The Farthest celebrates the ingenuity of mankind. A combination of magnificent machines, the men and women who built them and the vision that propelled them farther than one could have hoped." The embodiment of a visual adventure of the human imagination is indeed in THE FARTHEST.