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For bringing the story of the Voyager spacecraft to the big screen, an Irish documentary has won an Emmy for best sci-tech documentary.
The story of NASA’s spacecraft – Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 – is one that will live on long after the human race has disappeared, with both spacecraft now set to spend the next few billion years drifting in deep space.
More than 40 years after the journey of the spacecraft into the unknown, Irish director Emer Reynolds and producer John Murray created the incredible documentary The Farthest, documenting the mission and the stories of those who helped build and launch the spacecraft.
Now, everyone involved in its production is celebrating the news that at the International News and Documentary Emmys, the documentary was named as the winner of the category of Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary.
VIDEO: The Emmy for Outstanding Science & Technology Documentary goes to @PBS Special "The Farthest-Voyager in Space." #NewsEmmys pic.twitter.com/gHcrJhcSsm
— News & Doc Emmys (@newsemmys) October 2, 2018
This was the 39th edition of the famous award ceremony and The Farthest was nominated along with My Love Affair with the Brain, Poisoned Water, The Islands and the Whales and The Mars Generation.
The Screen Ireland-supported documentary was considered one of the favourites to pick up the award as it received critical acclaim internationally after screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
An ‘overwhelming’ reaction
Speaking on stage, Murray described the award win as “overwhelming”. He added: “We’re a small company from Ireland, and to be allowed to make this film was just unbelievable.”
Congratulating the team, Screen Ireland chief executive James Hickey said: “Irish creative feature documentary-making is going from strength to strength over the last number of years and Emer Reynolds is one of the best creative documentary directors working in the business.
“Major creative documentaries on this scale are incredibly difficult to finance and to produce, so a major award like this will hopefully help that process.”
