Out of The Present is regarded as being the non-fiction cult film of the nineties. Celebrated throughout the world, this montage film uses mainly documentary video material of a space mission to tell the story of Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev in diary-form, from May 1991 when he set out for the MIR space station where he was to remain for ten months – twice as long as planned. He is the first person to have been able to observe the end of an historical era from the vantage point of the gods. During the time he spent in space, the August coup took place in Moscow which was to result in the collapse of the Soviet Union. By the time Krikalev returned to Earth in March 1992, his country was called Russia.