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In the ’80s, a group of scientists and artists wanted to know if they could recreate Earth’s ecosystem, so they built Biosphere 2 (Earth was known as Biosphere 1) in Oracle, Ariz.

The experiment was not only scientific, but a social one where eight scientists locked themselves in the Biosphere from 1991 to 1993. There would be no supplies and no physical contact with the outside world.

On September 26,1991, Mark Van Thillo, Sally Silverstone, Mark Nelson, Linda Leigh, Taber McCallum, Roy Walford, Abigail Alling, and Jane Poynter, collectively known as “the synergists” were locked in the biosphere, a 3.15-acre home, a self-sustaining mini-world.

The media and scientists deemed the experiment a huge failure as rumors of food being sent to the “enclosed ecosystem” and lack of oxygen started to circulate.

Almost 30 years later, documentary filmmaker Matt Wolf’s new film, “Spaceship Earth” tells a captivating and uncannily timely story in this era of quarantine and social distancing.

The earth is humanity’s greatest asset in its fight for survival, yet the universe has only equipped it with a finite set of natural resources that cannot be replenished. So the dire need to protect and save those supplies that are quickly depleting has become increasingly prevalent in recent history. The process of synergy has […]

The post Interview: Mark Nelson and Linda Leigh Talk Spaceship Earth (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Spaceship Earth Radical Media Reviewed by: Tami Smith, Film Reviewer for Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Matt Wolf Editor: David Teague Cast: John Allen, Tony Burgess, Freddy Dempster, Kathelin Gray, Linda Leigh, Mark Nelson, Sally Silverstone, Marie Harding, Kathy Dyhr, Larry Winokour Release Date: May 8th, 2020 On an early dry Arizona morning during the first […]

The post Spaceship Earth Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Director Matt Wolf said he was inspired to make his new documentary, “Spaceship Earth,” after seeing photographs of Linda Leigh and Mark Nelson in bright red jumpsuits in front of the massive early-1990s science experiment known as Biosphere 2. “I was just doing research online, and I saw these very compelling images of eight people including these two (Leigh and Nelson) in bright red jumpsuits in front of this enormous glass pyramid, and I actually thought it was still from science fiction film and when I realized it was real,” Wolf told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at the Sundance Film Festival. In 1991, eight men and women were sealed into Biosphere 2, an airtight terrarium in the Arizona desert containing a miniature replica of Earth’s environment. Funded by a Texas oil tycoon hoping to acquire licensable technologies for space colonization, the mission of Biosphere 2 was to maintain an isolated, sustainable environment for two years.

The theatrical experience, for the most part, has been inaccessible for people in the U.S. for about a month and a half. Theaters aren't expected to open back up until at least July, which means lovers of cinema, as well as distributors, have had to get creative with new movies. Case in point, Neon has come up with a clever and unique way to handle their latest release, Spaceship Earth, which will be coming to a drive-in near you next week.

Spaceship Earth is a documentary that chronicles a crazy, yet very real, scientific experiment that took place in the 90s involving a quarantine. Quite timely, as it turns out. Neon picked up the rights to the movie after it debuted at this year's Sundance Film Festival, generating quite a bit of buzz. The original plan was to do a theatrical release. Since that isn't possible, they've opted to get creative,...