Comic-Con Best Documentary Will Star at Orange Coast College Planetarium in October

COSTA MESA, Calif. - Oct. 3, 2019 - PRLog -- An Audience Award at the 2018 Newport Beach Film Festival in Orange County, CA was a very exciting start for the first-ever film about space artist, architect and Hollywood matte painter, Chesley Bonestell. Since then, filmmaker Douglass M. Stewart Jr. and his movie Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future have gone on to win two Best Documentary awards; one at Comic-Con 2018 and a second at the 2019 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival. Now, with five October screenings scheduled, Orange Coast College Planetarium in Costa Mesa, CA will deliver the fascinating story and visionary images of "The Father of Space Art."

"Chesley took us to the Moon, not with technology, but with a paint brush," says Stewart. "Those who have seen Bonestell's work are amazed at how accurate his depictions of planets and stars are, even though they were painted long before high-powered telescopes and space probes existed. The film is called 'A Brush with the Future' because of Chesley's extraordinary vision. Now that we are going back to the moon, and then on to Mars, one can appreciate how he's inspired space exploration, even today."

It's a pleasant coincidence that Orange Coast College, which recently celebrated the grand opening of its architecturally stunning planetarium, should host a film about a space artist who started his career as an architect. Bonestell's paintings inspired America to reach for the stars but his architectural visions literally attained new heights on Earth when he helped design the tallest skyscraper in NYC in 1930 - the iconic Chrysler Building. A few years later in 1937, Bonestell turned boring blueprints into beautiful renderings that led to the building of the world's longest bridge of its time: San Francisco's Golden Gate. When he moved to Hollywood, he created movie magic with matte paintings for classic films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Citizen Kane and The War of the Worlds.

Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future will have five screenings at the OCC Planetarium, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, CA. The October 5 screening at 7:30pm will feature a special Q&A, hosted by filmmaker Doug Stewart and starring distinguished cast member, Writer/Astronomer/Space Artist David A. Aguilar.  Four additional non-Q&A screenings are scheduled for October 11 and 18 at 8:15PM and October 12 and 19 at 7:30pm. Visit www.chesleybonestell.com to view the film's trailer. For tickets and more info, visit the OCC Planetarium Page at www.orangecoastcollege.edu/about_occ/planetarium