Pontchartrain Film Festival and Shotgun Cinema present Spaceship Earth (2020)

$4 rental with 72-hour window

The Pontchartrain Film Festival and Shotgun Cinema present the local, virtual premiere of Spaceship Earth, a poignant documentary that’s both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.

Spaceship Earth, directed by Matt Wolf, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be released May 8 by indie studio NEON. Tickets are $4 and will be available for home viewing through a special link to be provided to benefit the Pontchartrain Film Festival and Shotgun Cinema.

Eight people quarantined for two years in Biosphere 2, a vivarium built in the Arizona desert. The stranger-than-fiction adventure has all the makings of a futuristic, science fiction film, and yet is prescient as people worldwide learn social distancing and how to shelter-in-place.

The “biospherians” faced ecological calamities and accusations of fraud, all the while trying to determine futuristic applications for human habitation in a self-sustaining living enclosure.

NEON has created a virtual theater for Spaceship Earth that will support independent filmmakers, festivals and exhibitors until venues are again available. They will donate 50 percent of every ticket sold through a special link to benefit the two local nonprofits.

Tickets are $4 and available beginning May 8 at www.pontchartrainfilmfestival.com and shotguncinema.org. After purchase, viewers will have 72 hours to watch the film at home on a smart TV, mobile device or computer.

Shotgun Cinema’s mission is to celebrate cinema through the filmgoing experience. The Pontchartrain Film Festival, now in its ninth year, has partnered with Shotgun Cinema throughout the years to bring professional projection to unique venues on the north shore.

While both organizations value highly the communal experience of watching film in a theater, they are enthusiastic about this innovative approach that brings independent cinema to the public and supports filmmakers during this time.

For information, email [email protected] or [email protected].