At the British Independent Film Awards in December, 'Moon' (2009) emerged triumphant victor, winning in the categories of ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Debut Director’ for Duncan Jones. The film has been further honoured with 14 additional wins and 13 nominations, continuing through to this year’s set of international awards ceremonies. Not bad for what the film’s producer Stuart Fenegan inspiringly describes as a “little British independent movie that made this crazy ambitious script against all odds in a stupidly small amount of time, and didn’t get funding from the usual sources.”

The scenario set up by this sci-fi thriller grabs one’s attention from the start—a man named Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) has been living by himself on the Moon for nearly three years, with only his robotic computer, GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) for a companion. Sam has committed himself to a 3-year contract with Lunar Industries, a company that harvests helium-3 and rockets it back to Earth. With his contract about to expire, he eagerly counts down the days until he can reunite with his wife, Tess, and his young daughter, Eve, who was born right before he started his job.

However, perhaps because he isn’t used to other people due to his long-term isolation and very limited communication with the outside world, Sam begins to see things and grows increasingly uneasy. One day, he gets into an accident at one of the mechanical harvesters and is rendered unconscious. He wakes up at the lunar station only to discover that he is not alone—causing him to question his sanity.

'Moon' is a testament to the extraordinary talent of director Duncan Jones, for whom the film is his first feature. Jones wrote the film specifically for Sam Rockwell, whom he had met previously and wanted to play the starring role. Learn more about this and the intensive six weeks it took to shoot 'Moon' in this interview with Stuart Fenegan, the film’s producer.