Gentry Lee, the certified Hall of Famer engineer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and distinguished science fiction author, is getting his time spotlight in a new documentary on his life launching at the SXSW 2025 Film Festival in Austin this weekend.
Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Stone, “Starman” is an 85-minute exploration of Lee’s experience working in the arena of interplanetary exploration as the Chief Engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and we’ve got an exclusive clip from the inspiring documentary to share above.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Are we alone in the universe? For over half a century, legendary NASA engineer and best-selling science fiction author Gentry Lee has explored every aspect of this question in the realms of space science, robotic exploration and the human imagination. At age 82, he has come to a revelatory conclusion…”
In addition to his innumerable accomplishments while employed with NASA, which reveal significant contributions to the Viking 1 and Viking 2 missions to Mars that touched down in 1976, Lee partnered with noted novelist and futurist Arthur C. Clarke to continue his “Rendezvous With Rama” sci-fi saga in three sequels: “Rama II” (1989), “The Garden of Rama” (1991), and “Rama Revealed” (1993). He also teamed up with the late Carl Sagan to co-developed and produce the pioneering 1980 space science TV series, “Cosmos.”
Stone’s directorial resume includes an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary in 1988 for “Radio Bikini” and three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for “Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst,” “Oswald’s Ghost,” and PBS’s 6-hour space race documentary series for “American Experience,” “Chasing the Moon.”
For anyone in the Austin area attending the SXSW Film Festival, here are the times and locations for the “Starman” screenings:
Saturday, March 8, 5:00PM CT: World Premiere (Alamo Lamar 9)
Sunday, March 9, 2:45PM CT: Public Screening 2 (AFS Cinema)
Saturday, March 15, 2:45PM CT: Public Screening 3 (Alamo Lamar 8)
*Talent Attending: director Robert Stone; subject Gentry Lee (March 8-10)