[BAA Comets] "Iconic Comet Hunters" documentary film

[amar sharma]

Hello friends from BAA,

This is Amar from India, posting after long. And it is time that I break the news and make it public, for it is on development phase. It is time that the BAA Comet Section joins hands with me in an innovative venture.

For a little more than 2 years I had been striving very hard to make it a reality, a documentary film exclusively on comet hunters and discoverers. My original dream was actually to unite as many comet and observers under one roof of the film. It has taken laying brick by brick to get to the stage that I am at today. All that I could do in the 2 years is start working on an encyclopedia which I expect to be the largest book on the biographical lives of comet hunters and discoverers. It is expected to cover on lives of around 60-70 comet hunters/discoverers from 10 countries since 1850s (expected to be divided into 3 volumes according to east, west and central zones of the planet, and a 4th volume covering everything else about comets and hunting, etc). All I can do this is virtually, through emails contacting people. And several of them have been VERY helpful in getting me ahead.

After a wait of two long years (yes, very long) I happened to propose the concept to an experienced British film making company called Green Umbrella -- http://www.green-umbrella.co.uk/ And they have agreed! At the latest they have produced Prof Timothy Ferris' "Seeing in the Dark". By expressing good interest in taking the project of comet hunters & discoverers, they have made not only my dream come true but this unison between Nikaya Observatory (public outreach observatory which I work for) and GU (them) it will be a great contribution to the comet community. Nigel Ashcroft leads GU.

If you note, the whole and soul crux of me 'dying' to get the documentary made soon is the fact that several of the veteran comet hunters are nearly 85 +/- years of age. (Time is indeed running fast and days are passing these years faster than before, isnt it?) I have clung on like a leech to the fact I want to get this documentary made at the earliest because we never know what happens next with them. The 7 names I have considered as the central characters of the film are (not in any order) John Bortle, Carolyn Shoemaker, Roy Panther, Michael Hendrie, William Bradfield, Tsutomu Seki. I heard from Terry Lovejoy online that William Bradfield is suffering a memory loss. How terrible would you feel if those 3000 hunting hours and 18-only-comet-Bradfields were not remembered by Bradfield himself?!

Additionally, you will not believe that I was always having this sensation that I would meet up Albert Jones before anything happened to him. I very much wanted to visit him but I did not have any option come my way to fly to NZ. There was just *something* about Albert Jones that captivated and inspired me...something. I found myself in love with Tsutomu Seki and Albert Jones for several weeks! But alas, I could not make it in time and for what I lost I wrote up his Obituary on S&T website in September 2013. It was a very saddening thing for me and a massive loss for the envisioned documentary film of which Jones was to be the eldest central character. One way I want to make Albert Jones be remembered is by wanting him featured on the postage stamps of New Zealand, and I am sure we all will see that one day.

I am born in 1984 and I might sound like I have seen things from the 1960s. But sure, there is some spirit in me that gives me an insight into the romance of what classical comet hunting would be, because I myself have spent a few years under the night sky with all the devotion doing some basic DSO and having dreamt for the last 10 years to discover the first comet from India (even though I could never hunt more than 4-5 hours). The romance that you all have been seeing these past decades (before I was born) is very much dying now, and everyone realizes that. It needs to be chronicled now. And I wish to take that up through this film. The romance that Seki, Ikeya, Alcock, and the likes exhibited needs to be captured LIVE from their own mouths (except Alcock who could be re-lived from the DVD interview film by Mr Buczynski and Mr Mobberly).

So here I am. I am urging the making of this film for the reason, if I have to put it directly, I do not want any more losses of the central characters of our film. From the BAA, I have been in good touch with Mr Denis Buczynski over the several months and he knows well of my fire to get this project done. He has immensely supported me and communications with him were the only way I could compile something about the British comet hunting history. He very well knows how I have been behind him to have wanted to reach out to Hendrie and Panther.

So with this detailed background, I wish to request BAA Comet Section to take up this project seriously, now that we even have a British film making team as the lead for the making of the documentary. It all comes to the funds. The estimated budget is 100,000 GBP (Rupees 1 crore). It covers Bortle and Shoemaker in USA, Prof Liller in Chile, Panther and Hendrie in UK, Seki in Japan and Bradfield in Australia. It would be a milestone achieved if you all are able to forward the proposal to any sources, organizations, institutions, individuals for any grateful assistance they can provide. Even any part funding that comes in will be greatly valued because that will help us cover person by person. Today I have sent out this subject by mail post to around 10 international sources (for funding). Work at my end goes on. Please find attached the soft copy of rhe proposal. There have been testimonials from people who believe my work, their words I have included in
 the proposal; it is by David Levy, Section's own Denis Buczynski, Lithuania's Dr Kazimieras Cernis, Shigeki Murakami, Rodney Austin and Terry Lovejoy.

Let us get into discussion how this can be worked around. I really look forward for things to move ahead to the point of completing the documentary film. Thank you so much for listening. Regards, Amar.