In the captivating documentary, The Longest Goodbye’ Filmmaker Ido Mizrahy combines the need for human connectivity and the desire for future space travel.

The human need for connection collides with the inspiration for space travel to Mars in filmmaker Ido Mizrahy’s thought-provoking documentary.

Former NASA Astronaut Dr. Cady Coleman appears in ‘The Longest Goodbye,’ an Official Selection of the World Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Bill Ingalls for NASA.

What does an astronaut miss the most during their six-month research stints on the International Space Station (ISS)? The answer at the start of filmmaker Ido Mizrahy’s captivating science documentary The Longest Goodbye may surprise you.

“I really miss the sound of rain,” a NASA astronaut shares, gazing at the Earth from the ISS station. “Why would someone want to be here for a full year?”

Director/co-writer Ido Mizrahy puts the human need for connectivity front and center in his captivating documentary The Longest Goodbye, premiering in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It’s the perfect Sundance movie considering the return of an onsite festival after two COVID-19-related in-person shutdowns. The Longest Goodbye emphasizes the psychological and physical needs driving people to connect. People need to gather with other people. That’s the core idea behind The Longest Goodbye. It’s also the idea at the heart of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. What will gathering at Sundance 2023 feel like for attendees after three years away from Park City?

Artemis program space tech at NASA, such as the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, is impressive. Understandably, rocket launches continue to draw large crowds of onlookers. But the Space tech captured by cinematographer Boaz Fruend provides the beautiful backdrop to Mizrahy’s thought-provoking documentary The Longest Goodbye.

NASA uses a test facility to prepare astronauts for a trip to Mars. ‘The Longest Goodbye’ is an Official Selection of the World Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Boaz Fruend.

Mizrahy and co-writer Nir Sa’ar focus on the human factor in the mission to send humans to Mars in the next ten years. The film has a compelling subject with NASA Psychologist Dr. Al Holland, who works tirelessly preparing astronauts for long-term space missions. Early into The Longest Goodbye, it’s clear that Holland’s work…