The two recent, almost simultaneous discoveries of a group of cold dark stars and fifty new human-friendly exoplanets in the remote inter-Cosmos are proof that, despite NASA giving the moon program the axe, the international scientific community is still willing to go and find new objects of fantasy to distract us from our day-to-day routine.This thirst for knowledge of far-flung territories way beyond our reach is shared by a large number of artists—from Danish director Lars Von Trier, who stages a deadly planet that’s about to destroy mankind to the Detroit-based techno duo Drexciya, who had been diving into the same dreamlike abyss for more than a decade.A young French director, Céline Desrumaux, has decided to go on an exploratory mission to a strange, lonely and beautiful planet of electronica. Countdown, her short-movie/music video is centered on the launch of a space rocket, from the ground training and preparation to the ignition of the engines. A powerful glitchy soundtrack by Apparat, the legendary electronica/IDM composer and DJ, co-owner of the Berlin-based record label Shitkatapult, illustrates all the steps towards the big intergalactic journey. The global aesthetic of the video is stunning, thanks to a soft pastel chromatic palette, a sober and neat animation style, and a minimalist yet poetic narrative.On her blog, Desrumaux makes a non-exhaustive list of her main visual influences for the video: Chris Ware, Hans Richter, Len Lye, Stanley Kubrick and Godfrey Reggio.[Via Fubiz]