HAWAIIAN STARLIGHT - EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE FROM MAUNA KEA

20 March 2009

For the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is releasing on DVD the movie "Hawaiian Starlight - Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea".

The summit of Mauna Kea offers the best viewing of the Cosmos in the northern hemisphere, and this film delivers a pure esthetic experience from the mountain into the Universe. Seven years in the making, "Hawaiian Starlight" reveals the spectacular beauty of Mauna Kea and its connection to the Cosmos through the magical influence of time-lapse cinematography. Daytime and nighttime landscapes and skyscapes alternate with stunning true color images of the Universe captured by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, all free of any computer generated imagery.

The film is directed by Dr. Jean-Charles Cuillandre, astronomer, photographer and cinematographer. Awestruck at age 16 by photos of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope atop Mauna Kea, Jean-Charles Cuillandre focused his schooling on engineering and astronomy up to his Ph.D. in the mid 1990s. Astronomer at CFHT since 1996, he has widely contributed to wide-field imaging instrumentation and scientific programs. He has been collaborating with the editors of the Italian magazine Coelum since 1999 to produce stunning views of the cosmos for the large public.

"Hawaiian Starlight" is a 43-minute cinematic symphony without any word in any language. It is scored uniquely with excerpts of the riveting, critically acclaimed, music created for Halo by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori.

"Hawaiian Starlight" received the Experimental Film Audience Award Maui Film Festival in May 2008 at its world premiere which drew a crowd of hundreds. It was also presented at the Opening Ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on January 15-16 2009.

The DVD also comes with 20 minutes of special features describing Mauna Kea and CFHT, two slideshows: "Hawaii's natural beauty" & "Mauna Kea & the observatories" by the film's author, as well as production notes. In addition, 40 minutes of educational features: "The Physics behind the scenes" and "The Astrophysics behind the scenes" offer an interactive look back at various time-lapse sequences and information on distance, location, age, etc. for the astronomical objects portrayed in the film.

Rights were secured to allow public free viewing, no matter what the size of the screen is. However, the film is protected under the copyright act and some easy-to-meet conditions are attached to these public viewings. School teachers are encouraged to share the film and the DVD educational features in the classroom. Museums and planetariums are welcome to program for free the film as an exhibit, i.e., a standalone screen looping endlessly on the film for their visitors to enjoy a few minutes, or the entire film.

For more information on the DVD, how to obtain it, and the conditions attached to its public use, visit the following URL: http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/dvd/ or http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/iya09.html

or contact CFHT at the following e-mail address: hawaiianstarlightdvd@cfht.hawaii.edu

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