WELCOME TO THE REAL “ARMAGEDDON”
A summer blockbuster, stripped back to reality.
Disaster Playground investigates future outer space catastrophes and the procedures to
manage and assess the risks. The film follows the scientists planning the monitoring and deflection
of hazardous Near Earth Objects and the real-life procedures in place in the event of an asteroid
collision with the earth. Follow the chain of command that runs from the SETI Institute and
NASA to the White House and United Nations and meet the people who are responsible from
protecting us from a potentially devastating asteroid impact.
Hollywood relies on Bruce Willis to save the world in Armageddon, but who are the real-life heroes
seeking to save our civilisation from the next major asteroid impact?
Disaster Playground, a ‘real’ film at the edge of space fiction. Space decadence with a cutting
edge approach through re-enactment of off nominal situations by world-renowned space
experts at NASA and the SETI Institute. With music by punk band The Prodigy and original soundtracks
by electronic music label Ed Banger Records.
Disaster Playground is director Nelly Ben Hayoun’s second feature documentary. The International Space Orchestra (2013) (running time 57 min) tells the story of the incredible journey that Ben-Hayoun took with the employees of NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute in California, in setting up the International Space Orchestra, and the production of the space opera they made together. The film contains interviews with scientists from NASA, as well as the final production of Ground Control: A Space Opera, it features musical contributions from Damon Albarn and Bobby Womack, and Penguin Café (Arthur Jeffes). In January 2013, the International Space Orchestra feature film had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival where it was acclaimed by the critic as a “masterpiece” (Independent Cinema Office, ICO), a “real achievement” (DOMUS),”as thrilling as watching a rocket launch” and “Spine Tingling” (The Guardian).
