The EYE 3D — Life and Research on Cerro Paranal

28 October 2009

The production companies parallax raumprojektion and fact&film, in In close cooperation with ESO, have produced a unique 3D documentary about the most powerful visible-light telescope in the world, ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). One of the world's largest telescopes, capable of taking some of the sharpest pictures of the night sky, the VLT is located in a breathtaking, arid environment, providing astronomers with superb sky conditions as they study the deep Universe.

This IYA2009 Special Project, The EYE 3D - Life and Research on Cerro Paranal, stars the young scientist and ESOcast host Joe Liske. In June 2009, the German film crew who specialise in making 3D movies accompanied Dr J on a trip from ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany, to the landscapes of the Atacama Desert in the North of Chile, one of the driest sites on Earth and home to the VLT observatory.

The film was co-financed by the film subsidy agencies of the German federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bremen, several charitable and public organisations and ESO. It has been appointed Special Project of the International Year of Astronomy.

The EYE 3D, directed by Nikolai Vialkowitsch, will have its world premiere on Wednesday 28 October 2009 at the Film Festival in Biberach, Germany. It will be shown in 3D theatres across Germany from 29 October 2009 and all over Europe later this year. An international version in English language is available, and further translations in other European languages are in production.

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