Carl Sagan: We are Made of Star Stuff
For many, cosmologist Carl Sagan was the face of space exploration, scientific inquiry, and insatiable curiosity, his enthusiasm contagious. Nanette Burstein’s fascinating documentary reveals the man behind the legend. Sagan’s involvement in the Voyager satellite program that was instrumental not only in discovering details about Earth’s neighboring planets but also paved the way for serious discussion about extraterrestrial life catapulted the university professor and NASA advisor into the stratosphere. But with additional fame as an iconoclast (author of Cosmos, activist against nuclear proliferation) came a heavy toll: a fractured family life and difficulty adapting to his role in it, until he met his soulmate, Anne. In this absorbing evocation of Sagan’s life, Burstein employs home movies, audio archives, candid testimonials, and extraordinary space photography to tell the story of a true globalist who loved being an ambassador for the human condition, the spread of knowledge, and our relationship with the universe. —Sterling Hedgpeth
Director/s
Nanette Burstein
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein began her career directing On the Ropes (1999), which received an Oscar® nomination for Best Documentary, won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. Among her works are the series Quincy Jones, Say it Loud: Black Music in America (2001); The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002); American Teen (2008), winner of Sundance’s Documentary Directing Award; “The Price of Gold” (2014) an ESPN 30 for 30 episode that won Cinema Eye’s Best Documentary Award; Hillary (2020), an Outstanding Documentary Series Emmy nominee; Killer Sally (2022); and Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes (2024).
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SPONSORED BY
THE PLANETARY SOCIETY