By Will Espero

Death and the loss of a loved one is the theme of Artemis and the Astronaut, a short film directed by Alice L. Lee of the United States. Artemis is missing her husband, a concert pianist, when she hits her head and has an experience with a person dressed as an astronaut. She believes the individual is Henri and proceeds to enjoy his company as the day begins. An almost complete jigsaw puzzle and a loving dance add to the moment Artemis and Henri share. The loneliness and memories of the past infiltrate the mind of Artemis as she has one last encounter with Henri in their home.

Alice L. Lee

Alice L. Lee received an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University. Her screenplay, The Legend of Pig-Eye, which is an adaptation of the short story with the same title by Rick Bass, won the top prize in Film Division Screenwriting Competition.

Her short film, The Good Boy, has been selected by over 60 film festivals both in the US and internationally and has won several Best Film, Best Foreign Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay and Best Acting awards.

She originally trained as a violinist at the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. She lives in New York City with her husband, two sons and two cats.

Artemis & the Astronaut is about love, an imperfect lasting love between Artemis and Henri. I wanted to make a film about Alzheimer’s, but not a clinical film about the cruelty of this disease, instead a poetic film about the struggles experienced by a wife who loved and cared for her stricken husband. In Artemis & The Astronaut, I experiment with time because time and the lifetime of experiences that make us all so unique, is what Alzheimer’s victims and their families lose. So within each scene, I move time backwards from the end of Henri’s life, when he didn’t recognize Artemis and was unable to speak to her, to a time when Artemis and Henri were happy together.

Alice L. Lee

Artemis & The Astronaut is an Official Selection at the 2023 edition of the Global Nonviolent Film Festival, and it can be watched from September 28 to October 8 on GlobalCinema.online where the Festival is being broadcast. D!