“This ‘Space Problem’ Became Our Problem”: Ido Mizrahy on The Longest Goodbye

With NASA under “presidential orders” to land humans on Mars by 2033 — and the industry titans of Silicon Valley rushing to make space exploration sexy again (not to mention cash in on that lucrative action) — it might be a good time to stop and ask not when our long-mission astronauts will launch, but rather who should be going and how they will survive. And not just physical survival, but mental and emotional, for even the Trekkiest among us may give pause before signing up for a years-long journey that requires relentless isolation, being stripped of any semblance of privacy and deprived of social contact with family and friends. (Really, how sexy would confinement to a small and inescapable space with Elon Musk actually be?) Fortunately, award-winning director Ido Mizrahy (Gored) has not only pondered such otherworldly predicaments, but gone to some truly deep thinkers for answers. In his Sundance-premiering The Longest Goodbye, Mizrahy sits down with everyone from a potential Mars missionary and her earthbound husband to a longtime NASA psychologist in order to delve into the unvarnished reality behind sci-fi travel. Mizrahy found the time to answer some questions for Filmmaker just prior to the film’s Sundance debut.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.