The Aeronauts: A Fantastic Journey of Discovery and Enlightenment

By José Alberto Hermosillo

Last weekend, Amazon Prime Video invited us to a delightful movie experience. A screening of their new film “The Aeronauts” and a fantastic themed fair.

Welcome to The Aeronauts Incredible Journey. Photos: Jeff Lovin Amazon Prime Video ©2019

The Film is based on the 1862 real-life scientists James Glaisher and Amelia Wren, played by Best Actor Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones.

The Aeronauts’ original dress. Photo Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

“The Aeronauts' Incredible Journey” fair includes plenty of fun activities to participate in, plus an avalanche of opportunities for the perfect snapshot.

The Aeronaut's hot air balloon. Photo: Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

The extraordinary exhibits at the fair included a flight to the stratosphere aboard “The Magnificent Mammoth” Hot Air Balloon, the main attraction.

The Aeronauts phonograph DJ. Photo: Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

The fair had a world-class phonograph DJ who was playing period music. Attendees danced the polka and Viennese waltzes, visited the Mesmerizing Hypnotist, and roasted coffee on the Remarkable Ready Roster.

The Aeronauts - fortune teller. Photo Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

Also, many visited the fabulous fortune teller. Participants had their photos taken with stereoscopic perspective by climbing into the basket of the “Mammoth” hot-air replica to capture a spectacular image.

The Aeronauts flyer, Amazon Prime Video.Photo Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

The Devil-May-Care Rope-walker is always fun, and many people dress in costumes from that particular period. 

After that, the fun continued. The audience was invited to attend and watch the movie on “The Fly-In Theater,” a hot-air balloon with a screen attached. 

The organizers prepared two gigantic screens so everyone could fully enjoy the film. It all happens in the open air of a lovely autumn evening outside Pasadena's historic Rose Bowl Stadium.

The Aeronaut's Incredible Journey. Photo Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

“The Aeronauts' Incredible Journey” was a sensational experience for adventurers, film lovers, and the entire family.

The Aeronauts popped corn. Photo Jose Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2019

“The Aeronauts” is an inspiring, captivating and engrossing film. 

The movie is highly recommended for the entire family, mainly for those girls and boys who are avid to discover and explore new horizons.

The Aeronauts banner. Amazon Prime Video ©2019

“The Aeronauts” Movie 

“The Aeronauts” is the true story of two scientists, the meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) and the pilot Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones), who decided to help each other on a venture to research further in their respective fields.

James will investigate a way to accurately measure the weather report by combining temperature and humidity measurements. 

As a brave female pilot, Amelia will try to break the world flight altitude record and become one of the most admired pilots of our time.

The Aeronauts, still. Amazon Prime Video ©2019

The film's non-linear structure makes us aware of the characters’ backgrounds, personalities, emotions, and true desires. The multidimensional story keeps the audience wondering about the scientists’ fate up there, in the air and the cold. 

“The Aeronauts” is a British period movie directed by BAFTA-nominated helmer Tom Harper; his credits include “Wild Rose,” “War Book,” and several episodes of the TV series “War and Peace.” 

This journey made me think of other epic movies such as “The Titanic” or “The Impossible.” In those films, humans defeat nature to achieve their mission, whether to survive nature’s adversity, pursue eternal love, or discover essential elements that will change the course of humanity forever. 

The Aeronauts - Official trailer 

Film critic Jose Alberto Hermosillo. Photo: Gabriel Romero. Festival in LA ©2019

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Papicha: Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Freedom in Algeria

By José Alberto Hermosillo

COLCOA REVIEW:  Vibrant and compelling, “Papicha” is a must-see drama with social content. The coming-of-age story is about courageous young Muslim women claiming their place and time in a world of inequalities.

During the “black decade” of the 1990s, an oppressive system doomed women’s rights in Algeria, and the Civil War in the African country brought them back to obscurantism. Director Mounia Meddour decided to move from making documentaries to directing her first feature loosely based on her experiences around those tumultuous years in college.

Mounia Meddour, "Papicha" director at COLCOA.
Photo José Alberto Hermosillo. Festival in LA ©2019

When Meddour was a journalism student, she saw first-hand the uprising in her nation-state. Many wanted to leave - others, the daring ones who had to stay, experienced religious, political, and physical repression by the conservative system in power.

According to the director, during those dark times, men were awful. Also, ultra-conservative women were making religious propaganda in the streets. They were interrupting classes, attacking broad-minded girls by going to their houses and threatening them, violating their intimacy – forcing them to wear hijabs all the time.

In Meddour’s intimate story, the hero is a young woman named Nedjma. “Papicha,” played by Lyna Khoudri, winner of the Best Actress Venice Horizons award for the 2017 film “The Blessed.” 

Papicha, Jour 2 Fete ©2019

Lyna Khoudri’s performance in “Papicha” is fiercely virtuous! She plays extraordinary, determined young Nedjma Papicha exquisitely.

At that age, female students want to dress up nicely, go to clubs, date, and have fun at the disco, like any other woman.

Papicha, Jour 2 Fete ©2019

While waiting for her Canadian Visa to leave the country, Nedjma’s dreams cannot be placed on hold. As a severe design student, she won’t give up her fashion show so easily but cannot obtain delicate fabrics. She improvises dresses with bargain fabrics to create original designs that will wow everyone. The other young women students from various fields of study join her on the runway show as an act of rebellion in their struggle for freedom.

The film does not often show the authorities, but they are a present dark force that moves in the shadows, repressing those who dare to be different.

Papicha, Jour 2 Fete ©2019

The project took five years to complete, and it required many script drafts. The female director expressed that “Papicha” was hard to put together, and the film’s subject matter is still a sensitive topic for the authorities. Once she got financing, Meddour could show her country’s reality accurately and vividly, thanks to her background as a documentarian.

The opposition against women’s liberation in Algeria has never been seen so vividly and realistically until “Papicha.”

Meddour started production with mostly non-professional actors in the cast. The most challenging task in making the project was editing the film because, in every take, the actors had different dialogs. The director gave the actors plenty of freedom to improvise on the set.

The actresses had plenty of time to rehearse and lived together in the same house for a week before filming. Their natural performances enlighten the screen, making “Papicha” a delightful movie.

Other contemporary films dramatize the women’s struggle for emancipation in the Middle East, such as this year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, “Atlantics.” Also, “Adam,” a cathartic film about women who want to live free from old biases. Another relevant project about sexual repression in Morocco is “Muchly Loved,” directed by Nabil Ayouch in 2015. “Mustang,” the French-Turkish Oscar nominee, ends up in tragedy over women’s awaking. “Divines,” made in France, shows a young woman of color fighting for a chance to survive in a violent city. 

The Afghan feature “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha” relates three feminist stories about their struggles dealing with chauvinistic men in their culture. Finally, the Canadian production “Antigone” is the story of a young African/Muslim immigrant struggling in Quebec’s courts to keep her family together and out of trouble.

In many Muslim countries, men use religion as oppression to submit to women for their benefit. This brave piece properly acknowledges women’s struggle in Algerian society. Part of the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes 2019, “Papicha” was also selected as the Official Algerian submission for Best International Film at the 92^nd Academy Awards.

Daring and splendid, “Papicha” responds to the imperative necessity of World Cinema serving as a tool in the women’s fight for equal rights.

 PAPICHA Oficial trailer  

Mounia Meddour, “Papicha” director at COLCOA. 
Photo José Alberto Hermosillo. Festival in LA ©2019

Mounia Meddour, “Papicha” director at COLCOA.  Film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Festival in LA ©2019

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Festival in LA ©2019