Film Festival Event to Benefit 'Rocket Man' Group

CONTACT: Robert Newton
The MassBay Film Project & Festival
(508) 363-2424 [phone] * (508) 363-4747 [fax]
e-mail: RobertNewton@MassBayFilmProject.org

[Worcester, Mass., March 25, 2005] –– German director Fritz Lang may be best known for his iconic film course staple Metropolis (1927), but it is his little-seen science fiction opus Woman In The Moon (1929) that has the most relevance for local audiences.

On Friday, April 22nd at 7:00pm at All Saints Church at 10 Irving Street in Worcester, audiences will not only get to experience the restored version of the epic, but will be treated to a live score on the church's incredible 1933 four-manual Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ. Acclaimed organist Peter Krasinski (www.krasinski.org), whose improvisations have been called "seamless" and "stunning", will perform his own original score for the restored version of Lang's film, for which Lang actually invented the "3-2-1…" rocket countdown (as a dramatic device).

The screening will benefit the Worcester-based Goddard Memorial Association (www.GoddardMemorial.org), one of the goals of which is to site a full-time memorial to Worcester's rocket pioneer, Dr. Robert Goddard. All of Goddard's early experimentation and construction of the innovative liquid fuel rocket took place in Worcester from 1908 to 1929. He successfully tested his first liquid fuel rocket on March 16, 1926 at the farm of his [distant cousin] "Aunt" Effie Ward in Auburn.

This screening is part of The MassBay Film Festival, Worcester's first full-blown, multi-day, multi-venue, film festival, April 15-May 1, 2005. Advance tickets for this special event are $7.50 each, and are available at Tatnuck Bookseller at 335 Chandler St., Worc., starting Wednesday, March 30, or online at www.MassBayFilmFestival.org.

The MassBay Film Project is a Worcester-based nonprofit organization (501(c) pending) in Worcester, and is engaged in charitable, educational, and production activities that directly and indirectly foster and encourage an appreciation and understanding of the art of film.

For more information on the Goddard Memorial Association (www.GoddardMemorial.org), contact Barbara Berka at (508) 799-0091.