Director Žiga Virc talks about “Houston, We Have a Problem!” #KVIFF2016

July 10, 2016

Director Žiga Virc talks about "Houston, We Have a Problem!" #KVIFF2016 fredfilmradio

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PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Žiga Virc, director of Houston, We Have a Problem! from the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

“More than a provocation, this film is like a wake-up call,” director Ziga Virc says about his film Houston, We Have a Problem!, which was presented at the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. This is a film where mostly fake facts are presented in a way that feels like a traditional modern way documentary feature. So much so that it is, indeed, hard to figure out where the real ends and the imagined side of the film begins.

The story concerns a major, and somewhat implausible, Yugoslav involvement in the Cold War’s Space Race, and the rise in the tension in the relationship between the U.S. and Yugoslavia. The wake-up calls Virc refers to is that relating to information and things written online, and how such news is propagated in the modern world dominated by social media. The dangers of such practices, Virc adds, makes it even more worrying than the way propaganda was back in the days of Yugoslavia under Tito’s regime because, back then, people could tell what was propaganda, whereas things are a lot more deceitful in these days. In this interview, we also discuss the film’s occasional use of humour and archive footage and much more.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!: Tito, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Clinton in a narrative docu-fiction about Yugoslavia’s hitherto secret space program, which aimed to put American astronauts on the Moon and thereby win the Cold War. Can eyewitnesses unravel the web of lies, dirty political games, and conspiracy theories?

Written by: fredfilmradio

Houston We Have a Problem! JFK Matt Micucci Tito Žiga Virc

Guest

Žiga Virc

Film

Houston We Have a Problem!

Festival

Karlovy Vary Film Festival

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