First Posted: 9/12/2007

75 minutes, not rated.
Directed by Jeffrey Jacobs. USA, in English.
Director Jeffrey Jacobs (who is also the film buyer for the Dietrich) has fashioned an entertaining and eye-popping documentary about John Dobson, the inventor of the Dobsonian telescope mount which revolutionized astronomy by making large, inexpensive telescopes and deep space observing available to amateur astronomers around the world. The film follows John, a former Vedantan monk, as he tours the country from the sidewalks of San Francisco to Stellafane, a convention of telescope makers in Vermont. It features sequences on the Moon, Sun, major planets, galaxies, Big Bang Theory, and the nature of time and space. We also get to know John Dobson, a fascinating thinker, philosopher, teacher and inventor who encourages us to think about the Universe. This cosmological journey is illustrated with amazing film footage and photographs courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope Institute.