Disaster Playground
Directed by Nelly Ben Hayoun
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.
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Reviews
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★★★★ review by ristubasan on Letterboxd
Very interesting and strangely twisted way of getting people interested in what might really happen were an asteroid to impact the earth. Nelly Ben Hayoun achieved remarkable access, and obviously has a great sense of humor. The documentary is at its best when it jumps from individual to individual through the 'chain of decision-making'; and the play-acting she has her interviewees walk through keeps things interesting. Weirdly interspersed are scenes of people driving down streets in the US while a voice-over reads irritatingly irrelevant excerpts from Baudillard's 'America', and I have to admit these nearly had me switching off. But it's worth sticking with it for what in the end is a remarkable portrait of the people we have actually unwittingly entrusted with disaster warning and response, and it is absolutely nothing like I could have imagined.
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