THE GOLDEN RECORD
A DOCUMENTARY EXPERIENCE
THE FILM
THE GOLDEN RECORD: A DOCUMENTARY
More than 40 years after the launch of the Golden Record upon NASA’s Voyager Spacecraft in 1977, this film aims to explore the 27 TRACKS of world music through the cinematic lens. Each song will be documented as a live musical performance, interpreted by contemporary musicians of the respective musical tradition and located in the place of origin of the song. This film will feature these contemporary musicians from around the globe as spoke-people for their musical tradition, guiding the viewer through each song's history & cultural significance. The voices weave together to create a universal narrative for music as the visual performances ignite our senses and take us deeper into the corners of our Earth.
THE RECORD
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. They assembled 115 images and a variety of natural and urban sounds from Earth. To this they added musical selections from different regions of the world, spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. The Voyager Spacecrafts1 and 2 - and the Golden Record aboard each - were launched respectively on September 5th and August 20th, 1977.
THE MUSIC FROM EARTH included aboard this record is the framework for our project.
From Beethoven to Bach, from Chuck Berry to Louis Armstrong, from ancient Chinese string music to wedding chants from Andean regions of Peru, the music selected for the Golden Record was a long and laborious labour of love spearheaded by Carl Sagan's wife Anne Druyan, the Creative Director of the Voyager.
In 2017, for the first time ever, Ozma Records released the Record for purchase, complete with a full-color 96 page hardcover book about the Voyager Interstellar Project.
CLICK HERE to be redirected to Ozma Records to purchase your copy.
The Voyager Interstellar Message - The Golden Record - is at the core of our project. Much like the original mission's desire to explore the solar system and beyond, we wish to explore and make discoveries back down here on Planet Earth about the content included on the Record. Specifically, the music.
THE TEAM
a filmmaking duo working in music documentary and globally conscious cinema
experienced cinematic storytelling and content production
The Grozdanova Sisters are a filmmaking duo working in music documentary and globally conscious cinema.
Biliana and Marina founded their own production company in 2012 under the name of EL JINETE FILMS, inspired by the long time they lived in Spain. After shared years at the University of Chicago, they co-directed two feature music documentaries: “Ortigueira: Ecos de Finis Terrae” and “The Last Kamikazis of Heavy Metal.” After spending several years apart working in the film industry and developing the Golden Record Film - Biliana in the US and Marina in Japan - they now reside in NYC.
Originally from Bulgaria, the sisters grew up traveling the world. From Australia's East Coast to Canada's West and many places in between, they were exposed to a diversity of cultures and developed an immense passion for the documentary arts in order to preserve their travels beyond their own memories. As a curious fact, the story of the Golden Record has been with them since a very young age, as Bulgaria is a proud worldly representative aboard the Record with the immortal voice of Valya Balkanska.
As co-producer of the film is the media collective CINEZOIC MEDIA and its founder Cameron Wheeless.
1977: THE MISSION OF VOYAGER
The primary mission of the twin Voyager spacecraft 1 and 2 was the exploration of our solar system. Voyager 1 would explore Jupiter and Saturn. After making a string of discoveries there — such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and intricacies of Saturn's rings — the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets. The adventurers' current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain and beyond.
Pioneers 10 and 11, which preceded Voyager, both carried small metal plaques identifying their time and place of origin for the benefit of any other spacefarers that might find them in the distant future. With this example before them, NASA placed a more ambitious message aboard Voyager 1 and 2: a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
The Golden Record Film is fiscally sponsored by Video Veracity, Inc. All donations are tax-deductible and will help us make it one step further in the production of this project.
