Trailer For The Documentary SPACESHIP EARTH Which Tells The Crazy Story of Biosphere 2
In the early 1990s, a group of eight people locked themselves inside a self-engineered biosphere science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona where they would live for two years.
It was called Biosphere 2 and it was meant to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in Outer Space. It was designed to explore the web of interactions within life systems in a structure with different areas based on various biological biomes. In addition to the several biomes and living quarters for people, there was an agricultural area and workspace to study the interactions between humans, farming, technology and the rest of nature as a new kind of laboratory for the study of the global ecology. Its mission was a two-year closure experiment with a crew of eight humans ("biospherians"). Long-term it was seen as a precursor to gain knowledge about the use of closed biospheres in space colonization. As an experimental ecological facility it allowed the study and manipulation of a mini biospheric system without harming Earth's biosphere.
There’s a documentary coming that focuses on all of this. It’s titled Spaceship Earth and it tells the crazy true story behind this. As you might have already heard, things didn’t go as planned and the people who locked themselves in this thing were more of a cult than a group of scientists.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life-threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.
The film comes from Matt Wolf, who said, “While making this film, I never could have imagined that a pandemic would require the entire world to be quarantined, In light of COVID-19, we are all living like biospherians, and we too will reenter a new world. The question is how will we be transformed? Now with a visceral sense of the fragility of our world, it’s on us to protect it.”
Spaceship Earth launches everywhere on May 8, 2020 by Neon in an unconventional way:
NEON’s release strategy was devised as a way to address the current limitations of the theatrical experience with the aim of bringing communities and cinephiles together and help support organizations and businesses in need. Allowing independent movie theaters, museums, book stores, arts and cultural organizations, non-profits, restaurants and other severely impacted small businesses to participate in the release will give them the opportunity to stay connected with their community and hopefully provide some much-needed financial support. Additionally, partners will have the option to host private screenings and/or to co-host live online Q&As and panels with filmmakers, film subjects and special guests. A partial list of non-traditional partners includes Atlas Obscura, Earth Day Network, Books are Magic, the Explorers Club, Posteritati, Fernbank Museum, NYC Trivia League, Talcott Mountain Science Center, Ground Support Cafe, Explorers Club, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, SITE Sante Fe, Synergetic Press, City Growers, Bud Werner Memorial Library, Santa Monica French bistro Pasjoli, and Brooklyn’s famous eatery Locanda Vinii & Olie. Other small businesses and organizations in the US interested in partnering with NEON can learn more and sign-up at www.NEONrated.com.
Check out the trailer below: