The Ukrainian fulldome animated film “Polarissimae: Mysteries of the Pole Star,” produced by Planetarium Noosphere, will be shown in the United States. The work by the Dnipro-based studio was selected for the program of the 2026 Macon Film Festival. Its U.S. premiere is scheduled for Saturday, August 22.
A Festival of Two Screens
The event in Macon is being held for the twenty-first consecutive year. This year, it will take place from August 20 to 23, 2026, in the city’s oldest movie theaters.
A distinctive feature of the festival is that, alongside films for conventional screens, it also presents works created for planetarium domes. According to Planetarium Noosphere, the program includes feature and documentary films, animation and computer graphics, as well as short and feature-length productions.
Date of the U.S. Premiere
The screening will take place on Saturday, August 22. In Kyiv time, the session will begin at 9:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time). Fulldome works are shown here not in movie theaters but in the planetarium of the local Museum of Arts and Sciences, and this is where the Dnipro film will be seen by the American audience.
This is the second time Planetarium Noosphere films have reached Macon. In 2023, the festival screened “Ukrainian Cosmos,” created on the basis of paintings by contemporary Ukrainian artist Oleh Shuplyak.
A New Level of Animation Quality
Yehor Tur, head of Planetarium Noosphere Dnipro, spoke about the studio’s new work. He explained why the U.S. screening is important for the team.
“The fulldome animated film ‘Polarissimae: Mysteries of the Pole Star’ represents a major qualitative leap in terms of computer graphics and animation among the fulldome films of Planetarium Noosphere Dnipro. We are proud that this film was selected for screening first at Fulldome Festival Brno 2026 and now at the 2026 Macon Film Festival. The event in Macon is special because it combines traditional cinema with fulldome films created for screenings in planetariums, so for us the U.S. premiere is not simply an opportunity to present our film in the United States, but also a chance to interest a much broader audience in our work, an audience that will discover the creative industry of fulldome cinema during the festival.”
A Mystery and Journeys Through Time
Trailer for the fulldome animated film “Polarissimae: Mysteries of the Pole Star.” Source: Planetarium Noosphere YouTube channel
At the center of the story is a boy named Max, whose grandparents introduce him to the constellations. His fascination grows into a search for the secrets of the North Star, from the first maps of the sky to a homemade planetarium.
The story is described by screenwriter Hanna Nikitina. She explains what she considers most important about this work.
“The fulldome animated film ‘Polarissimae: Mysteries of the Pole Star’ was created to include everything that would leave no viewer indifferent: the mystery of an old house that can only be solved if you know how to use the North Star, spectacular journeys through space — from the icy expanses of Antarctica to the polar caps of Mars — and journeys through time — to the Middle Ages, the time of Homer, Ancient Egypt and Babylon, the Stone Age, and even the age of the dinosaurs. It is definitely worth seeing!”
The animated film can also be seen in Ukraine at Planetarium Noosphere in Dnipro. It is shown as part of a thematic program about the summer sky, constellations, and cosmic phenomena.
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