Spaceship Earth

About

In 1991, eight capable 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. It was a mission that became a dystopian simulation of ecological crisis, after which a corporate consultant took over the venture—and disappeared the data.



The investors designed Biosphere 2 to generate a lot of press, but little was revealed about the people who created it. Using archive material and present-day interviews with surviving Biospherians, director Matt Wolf brings us this spirited documentary that follows the gregarious and visionary countercultural collective over half of a century, as they conducted experiments around the globe leading up to Biosphere 2. If Spaceship Earth is a cautionary tale about the forces that threaten our planet, it is also an inspirational tribute to what a small creative group can achieve.

YEAR 2019

CATEGORY U.S. Documentary Competition

COUNTRY U.S.A.

RUN TIME 116 min

COMPANY RadicalMedia and Stacey Reiss Productions

EMAIL stacey@staceyreiss.com

PHONE (917) 969-6311

Credits

Director
Producers
Editor
Executive Producers
Composer
Director of Photography
Co-Producer
Story Producers
Associate Editor
Motion Graphics
Music Supervisor

Artist Bio

Matt Wolf

Matt Wolf’s feature documentaries include Wild Combination, about the cult cellist and disco producer Arthur Russell; Teenage, about early youth culture and the birth of teenagers; and Recorder, about the activist Marion Stokes, who recorded television 24 hours a day for 30 years. His short films include Bayard & Me about the civil rights activist Bayard Rustin; It's Me, Hilary, about the Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight; and I Remember, about the artist Joe Brainard.