Little, Big, and Far

Little, Big, and Far

Jem Cohen / 2024 / 121 min. / Austria, USA

Coming soon in 2025

 

Karl, an Austrian astronomer, professor, and museum consultant, is at a crossroads in life and work. At 70, he finds his jobs are at risk and his physicist wife distancing. Along with a colleague, Sarah, he also finds himself struggling with environmental crises reshaping their fields. Sarah, who specializes in “citizen-science,” has begun seeing Mateo, a young Ecuadorian astronomer who brings her to an old telescope in New Jersey, the site of an astonishing discovery about the origin of the universe. Karl revisits the Rosetta Mission, which landed a probe on a very distant comet. His wife, Eleanor, reflects on her attempt to witness a total eclipse in the American South and its unexpected political implications. As the historical touchstones of astronomy, his grandson’s future, and his own role as a dark sky advocate begin to spin above Karl’s head, he finds himself increasingly unmoored. After a conference in Greece, he decides not to return home and heads for a small island in hopes of finding a dark enough sky to reconnect with the stars. Abandoned at a remote mountain trail, he ascends and waits for darkness to fall.

  • Director

    Jem Cohen

  • “Moments of sheer beauty… By broadening his imagery to include those obtained from actual outer space, and placing it within the tapestry of his feature, Cohen suggests that modern cinema, unshackled from genre, is more powerful than we may give it credit for.”

    — Conor Williams, Reverse Shot
  • “Magical. Captures all the glories of the universe.”

    — Dustin Chang, Screen Anarchy
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