Russia released the trailer for the first feature film to be filmed in space, beating actor Tom Cruise’s project.
The film, which is called The challengewas shot 400 km above the Earth’s surface aboard the International Space Station.
When it launches on April 20, the work will become the first feature film in which cast and crew have been sent into space to shoot.
The plot revolves around cardiologist Zhenya, who is part of a team of seven surgeons sent into space to operate on a cosmonaut. The film received a budget of more than one billion rubles, or about 20 million Canadian dollars.
Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman have revealed their plans to travel to the International Space Station to prepare a film in collaboration with Space X and NASA in May 2020.
A few months after this announcement, a recruitment campaign was launched in Russia to find a leading actress in a film shot in space.
The filming of Challenge was made in October 2021, four months before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The entire film crew left aboard a Soyuz MS-19 rocket. Their project was part of a joint mission with the Roscosmos space agency and Channel One, a Russian government-controlled television channel.
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has expressed its desire to leave the International Space Station in order to create its own entity in space.