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The total solar eclipse from a cloudy Brady, Texas, on April 8, 2024. (Photo by Brandon Bell\/Getty … More Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Did you and your community feel an \u201ceclipse effect\u201d on April 8, 2024? When the moon\u2019s shadow swept across North America that day, it plunged about 50 million people \u2014 and thousands of communities \u2014 into an awe-inspiring darkness during a rare total solar eclipse. Those with clear skies got to see the silhouette of the moon block the sun\u2019s disk, revealing its ethereal corona \u2014 the \u201chole in the sky\u201d moment.<\/p>\n
Now, a trio of films is giving fresh life to that precious moment of totality \u2014 capturing not just the celestial spectacle, but the human stories around it.<\/p>\n
1. In Totality<\/p>\n
Debuting on Friday, July 25, at New York City\u2019s Rooftop Film Festival<\/a> is In Totality<\/a>, a short film directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Jesse Rudoy<\/a> (Dusty & Stones) that follows Debra Ross, chair of Rochester, New York\u2019s 2024 eclipse task force, in the tense final days leading up to the eclipse \u2014 after seven years preparing. It begins with Ross promoting the eclipse at a baseball game and on radio and TV stations, via a play and a musical performance. As the day approaches, the weather forecast begins to look rosy \u2014 and then it suddenly worsens.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a filmmaker, I wanted her and Rochester to get their perfect, sunny eclipse. But the version they got gave us something deeper,\u201d said Rudoy, in an interview. \u201cWhen things start to go a little wrong, or there\u2019s tension in the air, you realize your film is becoming more interesting, more layered and frankly, better.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time of totality at 3:20 p.m., dense clouds obscured the view, with an eerie darkness and a golden horizon. \u201cShe had told the people of Rochester that if it was cloudy, they should just hold hands with someone they love and embrace the moment,\u201d said Rudoy. \u201cAnd in the end, that\u2019s exactly what she did.\u201d<\/p>\n If you were excited for the eclipse and then clouded-out, like Rochester was, expect In Totality to pack an emotional punch.<\/p>\n 2. A Moment In The Sun<\/p>\n Also now previewing at film festivals across the country is A Moment In The Sun<\/a> from filmmakers Mia Weinberger and Thomas van Kalkenthe \u2014the story of the last town in the U.S to experience totality. Houlton, Maine \u2014 population 6,000 \u2014 close to the Canada border, was predicted to be one of the cloudiest places along the entire path of totality. As it happened, it was a rare clear spot, resulting in thousands of visitors that nobody had expected.<\/p>\n Like In Totality, the 77-minute A Moment In The Sun focuses not on the eclipse, but on the people the directors encountered as they tried to capture the lead-up to the eclipse. \u201cThe four characters we ended up following included a local astronomer who shared his first eclipse with his late husband in 1997, a civic planner who had been preparing for this day for almost 3 years, a freshly minted entrepreneur with 800 eclipse t-shirts to sell and a couple who said \u2018I do\u2019 right at the moment of totality,\u201d said Weinberger to FilmInk<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Moment In The Sun will screen<\/a> at 5:45 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 25, at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, Maine, as part of the Maine Outdoor Film Festival<\/a>. It will also screen<\/a> in Houlton\u2019s Temple Theatre from Friday, Sept. 5-11. \u200b<\/p>\n Both films come in the wake of NASA\u2019s Emmy Award for Outstanding Live News Special for its three hours of live coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipse, announced<\/a> at the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City on June 25. It got 40 million views.<\/p>\n 3. Totality<\/p>\n