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The Cosmonaut

A young man imagines he is a cosmonaut as a way to combat his loneliness and self-destructive thoughts.

  • Sami Abdul-Razzak
    Director
    In Transit
  • Sami Abdul-Razzak
    Writer
    In Transit
  • Sami Abdul-Razzak
    Producer
    In Transit
  • Callum Broome
    Key Cast
    "The Cosmonaut"
    In Transit
  • Emma Lo
    Key Cast
    "Hala"
  • Sami Abdul-Razzak
    Editors
    In Transit
  • Alasdair Baynes
    Composers
    In Transit
  • Alasdair Baynes
    Sound Designers
    In Transit
  • Taylor Haldane
    Camera Operators
  • Sami Abdul-Razzak
    Camera Operators
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Sci-Fi
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 42 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 22, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    150 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    France, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1, 16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sami Abdul-Razzak

This is Sami's second film following his first short, In Transit, which he completed in 2019.

Sami first became interested in film while halfway through his university degree in 2014. What started as an innocent curiosity quickly grew into a mild obsession, and soon enough the desire to create his own films emerged.

Fast-forward several years later and In Transit marked the first time Sami satisfied this desire. With this first experience under his belt, he was keen to start on a second project and soon began developing ideas for a short which would eventually form the story of The Cosmonaut.

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Director Statement

This was at once a difficult and easy film for me to make. Difficult because I had to reveal parts of myself which are hard to share. But easy, because I had been living with these ideas and images for so long that I had a very clear of what I wanted the film to be.

It was a stripped back production, for most of the shoot it was just myself and Callum, who plays The Cosmonaut, removing the complications of managing lots of people. We filmed it in my bedroom, whose spaces I knew so well from many previous, formless, filming sessions. As well as meeting some new collaborators, I got to work almost exclusively with existing friends, some of whom also worked on my previous film, In Transit.

I owe so much of this film to Oliver Thorn, whose videos on his YouTube channel PhilosophyTube have given me so much for many years now. It was his video on Suicide & Mental Health which provided the initial idea for The Cosmonaut and gave the story the structure it was lacking before. You can watch Olly's video here: https://bit.ly/2NFDdJn