Closer Than We Think is a film about the future.
From 1958 to 1963, a Sunday comic strip predicted the future. Arthur Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think represents mid-century futurism at its most daring and optimistic. From Robot Driving to Space Monkey Colonies, Radebaugh's visions of the future heavily influenced The Jetsons and many of his predictions have come true in the decades since the strip first ran in newspapers.
Our film explores the panels of Closer Than We Think, examines what it is to be a futurist, and serves as a biography of Arthur and the arc of his life and work. We've interviewed designers Syd Mead (Tron, Blade Runner), and Rick Guidice (NASA), Futurists including Kirk Citron (Editor of The Long News), scientist Aubrey de Grey (SENS Research Foundation), historians of mid-century futurism Hampton C. Wayt (Curator of Driving Through Futures Past) Todd Kimmell and the other curators of the exhibit Radebaugh: The Future We Were Promised and Matt Novak of the Paleofuture blog.
Arthur Radebaugh remains incredibly elusive---and that's one of the reasons we wanted to start this campaign while the film is still in production.
No audio or video of Radebaugh has yet been uncovered.
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Additionally, there are key strips of Closer Than We Think that we still haven't found. We hope someone who sees this campaign might have a few pieces squirreled away somewhere. We're also hoping to make contact with more people who actually knew Radebaugh, or who remember seeing Closer Than We Think in their local paper.
We want this campaign to be seen widely so that we might have the chance to find and include those works, and have a chance to speak with those people before the film is complete.
The money we're raising will cover travel for our remaining interviews, an original score, licensing of historical footage, and sound mix for the film.
This is an amazing opportunity to fill in a missing piece of history---and to honor Arthur Radebaugh (1906-1974), from those of us living in his future.
