Criterion hat am 14. Juli 2009 den rein aus Aufnahmen der Apollo-Missionen erstellten Dokumentarfilm “For All Mankind” [USA 1989, Al Reinert] ziemlich zeitnah zum 40. Jubiläum der ersten Mondlandung (20. Juli 1969) auf Blu-ray und als DVD-Neuauflage veröffentlicht. Mit etwas zeitlichem Abstand zur Feier des historischen Moments, nämlich am 16. November 2009, wird der Film auch beim britischen Label Masters of Cinema auf DVD und Blu-ray erscheinen. Für diese Ausgaben wird das Master von Criterion verwendet, außerdem – mit einer Ausnahme – das Bonusmaterial übernommen. Das Feature “On Camera, a collection of excerpted on-screen interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts” bleibt allerdings den Criterion-Discs vorbehalten.

During the Apollo lunar missions from 1968 to 1972, those onboard were given 16mm cameras and told to film anything and everything they could, in space, in orbit, and on the surface of the moon itself. Two decades later, filmmaker Al Reinert went into the NASA vaults to create this extraordinary compendium of their journeys and experiences.

Assembled from hundreds of hours of the astronauts’ own footage, with a soundtrack made up of their memories and a specially composed score by Brian Eno, the film takes the form of one journey to the moon and back again, building with elegant simplicity and exquisite construction to create an overpowering vision of human endeavour and miraculous experience.

At once intimate and awe-inspiring, For All Mankind is a genuinely mesmerising first-hand document of one of the high points of the 20th century. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Criterion’s beautiful high-definition restoration of the film for its UK home viewing première in a comprehensive, director-approved special edition.

• A new, restored high-definition transfer, supervised and approved by director Al Reinert
• Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, remastered from the original sound stems
• Audio commentary featuring Reinert and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to set foot on the moon
• An Accidental Gift: The Making of “For All Mankind” a new documentary featuring interviews with Reinert, Apollo 12 and Skylab astronaut Alan Bean, and NASA archive specialists
• A gallery of Bean’s artwork, inspired by his life as an astronaut, with commentary and a filmed introduction
• NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage
• Optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission control specialists
• New optional English subtitles (SDH) for the hearing impaired
• A luxurious booklet, featuring essays, credits, stills, a new interview with Brian Eno, and more