Film Projection on the Moon

Real Institute declared 'foul-play' yesterday when they failed in their attempt to project previously unseen footage of a russian space mission directly on to the moon's dark side. The film, thought to have been secretly shot by Pavel I. Belyayev during the 1965 Voskhod 2 expedition, was to be screened as part of 'Wales Cinema Day'. 

The projection began at 8pm in Nebo, an isolated hamlet in the Snowdonia mountains of North Wales, and witnessed by three TV crews including the BBC. Preparations appeared to go well but as the projection began, Real Institute technical crew began to encounter anomalous interference in the projection signal. Increasing levels of disruption eventually forced them to abandon the attempt altogether. 

A series of exhaustive tests lead to the conclusion that a deliberate attempt had been made to 'jam' the projection signal. 

Iwan Williams, of the Real Institute collective, said:

"I'm furious, a lot of work went into this project. We are now certain that foul play was at work here. Our signal was deliberately jammed. We can't prove who is responsible but we're sure it was the Russians. The film we were projecting is highly embarrassing to them and the direction and characteristics of the jamming signal seem to confirm our theory." 

Existence of the Super 8 footage had been repeatedly denied by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and the Military Space Forces (heirs to the Soviet space programme). Pavel I. Belyayev, amateur filmmaker and co- cosmonaut on the Voskhod 2 mission, never denied or confirmed his part in the films. Neither did he comment on their rumoured content showing Belayev and fellow cosmonaut Alexei A. Leonov in an isolated forest fending off hungry wolves, having landed the space-capsule manually following an autopilot failure, and missing their planned landing zone. 

For this unprecedented event, Real Institute had utilised specially customised Super 8 projection equipment in its attempt to be the first to reach the moon's surface with celluloid light. 

Real Institute will now investigate anti-jamming technology before considering whether a second attempt is possible.