press kit
Space Chasers
Written & Directed: Dr. Steven Swancoat
Produced by: Dr. Steven Swancoat
Cinematographer: Ketak Dhiman
Edited by: Thomas Calella & Dr. Swancoat
Run Time: 51m 58s
Film Completed Date: February 23, 2025
World Premiere: DocVille International Film Festival Belgium
World Premiere Date: March 29th, 2025
4k / Color / Subtitles: English
Log Line:
A telescope, a video camera and a dream. One doctor’s ambitious quest to journey across the globe to meet and image with the world's greatest astrophotographers.
Short Synopsis
"Space Chasers" is an action-packed adventure documentary that takes viewers on a thrilling journey into the captivating world of amateur astrophotography. Dr. Steven Swancoat, an Ob/Gyn who always dreamed of becoming a filmmaker, embarks on a global quest to meet and image with some of the world’s most talented astrophotographers.
Despite delays, setbacks and challenges, he pursues his passion for storytelling and the stars, and all while trying to pull off an impossible “Astro Imaging” mission in the heart of Times Square, New York, where the bright city lights make the impossible seem even more daunting.
About the Director
Dr. Steven Swancoat is a board-certified OB/GYN, artist, astrophotographer, and filmmaker living in New York City. He moved to Manhattan as “a big dream” in 2010 while a third-year medical student and has never left. That same year, his father encouraged him to “give art a try,” and he became a self-taught artist.
In just four years, he created over 300 paintings and held multiple solo and group exhibitions. His paintings have since become part of the private collections of Susan Sarandon and Lady Gaga.
In 2015, he was gifted a telescope, and his creative focus shifted from painting to astrophotography. Mesmerized by the moon, Swancoat spent every clear night outside striving to capture it in the clearest and largest possible format. In 2017, he had his first international art exhibition in Hong Kong, where he displayed his new large-format lunar astrophotography and mixed-media astro paintings.
On the flight home from Hong Kong, Swancoat was inspired after watching short films on the plane. He wrote and shot his first short film, “The Singer.” The 15-minute film went on to screen at over 20 festivals in 7 countries and garnered more than 20 awards for the filmmaker and cast.
Inspired by his own passion for astrophotography, in 2019, Swancoat spent a year filming and traveling the world for his most ambitious project ever, “Space Chasers.” The feature documentary took five years to edit and had its world premiere at the DocVille International Documentary Film Festival Belgium.
Directors statement
I believe that films and documentaries have the unique ability to transform lives. For me, Wall Street was the catalyst for my New York City dream, and Exit Through the Gift Shop lit the spark that led me to pick up a paintbrush. Now, after 15 years in the city and over 500 pieces of art, I’m often left wondering how different my life would have been without those cinematic moments.
My adventure in astrophotography started unexpectedly after getting a telescope—of which I never knew one could photograph space let alone capture such stunning, NASA-level images. Space and astrophotography offered me an escape, a new art form, a challenge, and a wonderful community. This profound experience compelled me to share it with the world through Space Chasers – a documentary born from the belief that if a telescope could change my life, imagine what it could do for you.
Filming Locations
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New York, NY – USA
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Carlsbad, Landers, CA – USA
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Johannesburg, Karoo, Sutherland - South Africa
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Valencia & Olocau – Spain
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Southampton – United Kingdom
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Amsterdam - The Netherlands
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Toronto - Canada
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Santiago, La Serena, La Higuera - Chile
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Lima, Vinak - Peru
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Rome, Venice - Italy
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Mt. Fugi - Japan
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Dubrovnik - Croatia
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El Nido Island - The Philippines
meet the astrophotographers
dustin gibson
"The Game Changer of Astrophotography"
Dustin Gibson is a published astrophotographer and entrepreneur. He is currently involved in multiple organizations that work towards transforming astronomy and astrophotography, including co-founding Radian Telescopes and OurSky AI. He served as a co-owner and CEO of Oceanside Photo & Telescope, the largest telescope retailer in the world with multiple appearances on the Inc. 5000 list.
It was Dustin’s idea to try to image in Times Square using their new triad filter to show the world you can image anywhere regardless of light pollution. When not imaging the heavens, he is giving Ted talks on astrophotography or building remote observatories all around the world.
Cory & Tanja Schmitz
" The Astro Couple"
A love story from opposite ends of the globe! Cory, an Iowa based engineer and Tanja, a South African based fitness entrepreneur, met by chance through Twitter, each commenting on the other’s astro photos. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to meet up & image together in the USA.
They fell in love, married and Cory moved to Johannesburg South Africa so the two could be together. The two are now a powerhouse astro imaging couple, traveling to different dark sites throughout Africa imaging the Southern Hemisphere. Shortly after filming, Cory achieved an APOD, “Astronomical Photo of the Day”, one of the highest honors for the astro imaging community. The two also run a website dedicated to astrophotography called www.photographingspace.com
Sara Wager
" The Picasso of Pretty Pictures"
A funny and charismatic retired corrections officer, Sara Wager is arguably the world’s greatest female astrophotographer. Originally from the UK and now located in Olocau, a small Spanish village, Sara has her own backyard observatory suited with 3 telescopes and two imaging rigs.
Her astro images, or “pretty pictures” as she calls them, have earned her numerous spots in magazines, articles and calendars, right next to images from Hubble & NASA. Unlike conventional astronomers, she never had an interest in looking through the telescope, only using it as a tool to take extremely difficult and time-consuming deep space images
Nancy Ricigliano
"Astro Mom"
Well known in the Instagram astro community under the name “Astromom”, she is just that, an astro mom. An astrophotographer and mother of three from Long Island New York, she has the biggest heart. She will be the first to admit she’s still in the learning stages of astrophotography, but being one of the only women in New York who continues to pursue this challenging hobby is impressive! Her work over the years only continues to improve putting Astro mom up with some of the best in the world.
With her warm heart and love for all things space, it’s no wonder she is such a beloved astronomer both in her local astronomy club and worldwide in the Instagram world. When she is not shooting moon rises or the Orion Nebula, she is a fantastic wild life and bird photographer.
Damian Peach
"A Godfather of Planetary Imaging"
This UK native who currently lives in Southampton is without a doubt the Godfather of planetary astrophotography. A specialist in Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, he is a pioneer in the field. His work has earned him Astrophotographer of the Year, a Guinness World Record, and numerous publications in books and magazines. From the earliest days of shooting on film, to innovative days webcam imaging to traveling to Barbados for its clear conditions, Damian as been do astrophotography for nearly 30 years.
Currently his work has been taken to new levels as he images remotely from his UK home using a 1 meter telescope located in the remote mountains of Chile. No astrophotography documentary would be complete without including Mr. Damian Peach.
Bowen & Ingmar
"The Astro Kids"
Bowen Cameron, just 17 years old, and Ingmar Bouwman, 18, rank among the world's youngest and most talented astrophotographers for their age.
Bowen picked up the hobby at just 15 and managed to excel in astrophotography despite a busy high school schedule. Like many teenagers facing financial constraints, both he and Ingmar worked their way up—taking on low-paying jobs and even inventing devices out of Legos—to support their passion for astro imaging.
Despite being outsiders in a hobby dominated by middle-aged enthusiasts, the two connected on Instagram. Their bond not only blossomed into a lifelong friendship but also fueled their mutual growth and learning in astrophotography.
Guillermo Spiers
"The Peruvian Astronomer"
One of the members of the Lima Astronomy Crew, Guillermo is one of the foremost South American astrophotographers. Although relatively new to the hobby, his work speaks for itself, earning him speaking invitations from local universities and industries.
Guillermo also attended the 2019 Chile Solar Eclipse with his Lima Astronomy Crew, giving them all a chance to experience it together with Swancoat and Space Chasers.
Space Adventures
Space Chasers not only traveled all around the globe to meet its astrophotographers but had the unique opportunity to go on some incredible and memorable Space Chasing adventures.
The Karoo
Space Chasers flew out to Johannesburg, South Africa & then ventured deep into some of the world's darkest skies to image the Milky Way for 3 nights. While there each night was more and more disastrous, from deadly snake encounters, dust storms, clouds, rain and even hail.
What was meant to be the imaging session of a lifetime, turned out with only a few hours before leaving, the team had still not seen a single star due to poor weather. However with just minutes before making the 12 hour drive back to Johannesburg, the skies finally opened and the team got the most amazing starry skied and astro photos! And yes, that's Director Dr. Steven Swancoat holding his camera and boom pole on a rocky cliff under the Milky Way.
2019 Solar Eclipse
"A life changing moment we almost missed"
After a chance interview at OPT with National Geographic’s photographer Travis Burke he mentioned his experience at the 2017 Solar Eclipse calling it a “life changing event”. This same message rang true as more and more astrophotographers Swancoat interviewed said the same after seeing an eclipse. Swancoat then looked up to see if there was one coming up and to his shock there was one right around the corner.
With the countdown already started, Swancoat booked his tickets to Santiago Chile, to then make the 5 hour drive up the coast of Chile and experience the eclipse in La Serena. It was only after meeting fellow astrophotographer Guillermo Spiers there that they decided to experience it in the small Chilean commune of La Higuera. Swancoat still considers it the absolute most amazing thing he as ever experienced in his life.
times square 2.0
"Imaging against all odds
Dustin Gibson had the brilliant and innovative idea of what if we tried to "image" deep space from the most light polluted area in the world, Times Square New York. So in 2017, Dustin, Swancoat and his team attempted the impossible. Things were going great until the team got shut down by the NYPD Counter Terrorism unit.
Two years later and well into shooting Space Chasers, Dustin called Swancoat and was ready to try it again. So Times Square 2.0 was on the books, and all in attempt to show the world you can image deep space even in the world’s most light polluted city... that is if you avoid being shut down by the NYPD.
Star Parties
"A communal gathering under the heavens"
Being a Space Chaser isn't just for the worlds greatest astrophotographers, its for everyone. Star Parties are a great way than anyone and everyone can come out in their local community and get involved.
To Swancoat's surprise, New York City offered a lot of star parties. From Central Park, to the city streets, to the battle ship the Intrepid, as long as you had a flat surface a telescope and a clear view of the sky you could have a star party. Not only that, but it was a wonderful way to engage 1000's of enthusiastic people.
