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NASA is preparing to send humans — including a Canadian — to the moon for the first time in more than five decades, and the mission has also given a Thunder Bay-born filmmaker her own “Kubrick moment.”
The Artemis II mission could launch as early as next week. It will send four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hanson, on a 10-day trip around the moon. While the craft won’t touch down, it will conduct surveillance, testing, and experiments in preparation for Artemis III, which will return humans to the lunar surface in the coming years.
The mission is being celebrated by Canadian singer-songwriter Emm Gryner, through a new song called Touch the Sky.
And filmmaker Laura-Lynn Petrick, who was born in Thunder Bay, directed, shot, and edited the music video.
WATCH | Touch the Sky by Emm Gryner:
“It’s truly an honor,” Petrick told CBC News. “I’m obsessed with space and science fiction in general, so this just feels like my Stanley Kubrick moment.”
“And also it’s such a unifying mission,” she said. “I feel like it’s gonna really … show what we can accomplish.”
The video was shot in the fall. Some was filmed near Thunder Bay, at Belluz Farms, with local actor Leo James Durocher, who portrays a younger version of Hansen.
The remainder was shot in Sarnia, featuring Gryner performing at a piano.
“It really came through friendship,” Gryner said of the song. “I became friends with Catherine Hansen, who’s Jeremy’s wife, and we talked loosely about there being a song for his upcoming moon mission.”
“When you talk about stuff like that, it just seems so far in the future,” she said. “I didn’t really know that I could get it together, but I put together a team of super talented people, some people I’ve always wanted to work with.”
“I think it came out really well.”
Superior Morning6:16Laura-Lynn Petrick: Artemis Song
The first human spaceflight to the moon in decades may launch in a matter of days and it has a Thunder Bay connection. Laura-Lynn Petrick directed the music video for Emm Gryner’s new song, Touch the Sky.It celebrates the mission and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Hear more from Laura-Lynn.
The project also gave Petrick and Gryner a chance to work together, something they’d been discussing for about a year.
“We were planning to work together on a music video and some visuals for her new music, and we were kind of going through different song options,” Petrick said. “Then eventually in the fall, this song was written with some of her collaborators and we decided it was the perfect match because of my connection to, I guess, just landscapes and Canada.”
In addition to Durocher and Gryner, the video also includes footage from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency captured during other space missions, and Hansen’s training.
“It took me about two or three weeks to go through everything,” Petrick said. “A lot of it is very scientific, the footage, and because I’m coming at it from a cinematic perspective, I’m looking for those little brief glimpses where I’m getting that feeling, that very special feeling you get when you’re watching a coming-of-age film, or a film about accomplishing your dreams.”
“I found all of it and I’m very happy. And Jeremy is just such an inspiration. So it’s really cool to be a part of it.”
Gryner said she was “blown away” when she saw the final product.
“I’m pretty picky about how I look on camera,” she said. “But the cool thing about this video is it’s not about me.”
“It’s really nice to make a song that’s like a tribute to all of the work that Jeremy’s doing,” she said. “I’m so happy with it.”
Gryner said all proceeds from the song are going to Bluewater Health Foundation in Sarnia.
