Orphans of Apollo
Claire Thompson, Waves PR
This post is well overdue, and one I have really looked forward to writing.
At the height of the telecoms boom I worked in-house (PR) at Esprit Telecom, which was founded by two colourful Americans, Michael Potter and Walt Anderson. I never met Walt, but Michael I worked closely with.
Generally if someone drops you a line and says ’I just directed a film’ you take a look for a YouTube video. Not Michael! You have to know the man to know that it was a suprise but not a shock when an invite to the premiere of the film he had just produced and directed arrived.
Michael puts the fun into business. His film, Orphans of Apollo, tells the true story of how a team of crazy American entrepreneurs bought the Mir space station from the Russians with a view to commercialising it. The result is awesome.
The film has endless funny maverick moments – the team teetered between insanity, audacity and sheer brilliance, and the fun lies in that truth is always far, far stranger than fiction. It has edge of your seat politics – the maverick entrepreneurs upset NASA by gaining a foothold in a space the wished to dominate. You find yourself caring about a piece of space junk. And the ending feels brutal.
The marketing of the film is similarly unconventional;, Where once a film like this would have been touted around the alternative arts film houses, in today’s tough financial climate it is simply available on a DVD which they hope to market ungerground/by word of mouth.
I had my phone with me, so managed to catch the thoughts of a couple of people.
The first is David Chambers, who helped raise the finance for the project, and whose moment of glory, for me personally, was when he sold the rights for a reality TV programme in space!
Chris of Super/Collider interviewed Michael on the phone.
I showed my newly acquired copy to my kids. It’s the film that puts the fun back into business. It’s the film that may just inspire the next generation of little Bransons. Get your hands on a copy. You won’t regret it.
It’s fun. It’s madness. It’s chaos. But most of all, it’s entertaining. A bit like my time at Esprit Telecom.
Claire Thompson, Waves PR
Tags: Technology & Telecoms
Interviews and guest posts, news, tech & telecoms | claireatwaves | 
June 6, 2009 7:41 am
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