Apollo 11 in UAE Cinemas

The critically acclaimed film Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller is in UAE cinemas this week.

Considering the UAE was in overdrive mode celebrating its first astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori who went on his first mission to space, to the International Space Station on September 25th, this film has received very poor publicity here.

The cinemas themselves aren’t really promoting Apollo 11, instead, I’ve mostly been seen them publicising Doctor Sleep, Midway,and other upcoming releases like Charlie’s Angels and the new Star Wars film Rise of the Skywalker.

I continue to get frustrated with the poor to zero marketing efforts by the film distributors, cinemas and media when it comes to none blockbuster films.

Apollo 11 is made up entirely of scenes from recently discovered 65mm footage and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings. It’s a vivid record of NASA’s first moon landing mission 50 years ago, on July 20th, 1959. We see (and hear) the preparations right before lift off, the Mission Control, the astronauts, and even the spectators.

The footage is so rich, the soundtrack and editing is so well paced, and even though we all know what happens, as a viewer I was still on the edge of my seat, especially during the couple of minutes before landing because a counter on the screen showing how little little fuel is left before landing on the moon. It’s so nerve-racking that you release a sigh of relief when you hear Neil Armstrong say “the eagle has landed”.

It is a showcase of American power and propaganda considering the amount of cameras and camera operators that were placed everywhere to capture this historic moment from the start to the end of the mission.

I’ve included a few film stills below, to give you an idea of what to expect.

If you live in the UAE, please see this as soon as you can at the biggest screen you have access to. I know IMAX screens aren’t everywhere or affordable, but the film is still worth watching on a non-IMAX cinema screen with a good sound system. As far as I know, based on checking all the UAE cinema websites, Apollo 11 is screening in Cine Royal, Novo Cinemas, Reel Cinemas, Roxy Cinemas, Star Cinemas and Vox Cinemas. Some are only showing it during the weekend, others are showing it all week, so please check the schedule at the cinema near you to make sure it’s on.