Announcing the streaming release of a documentary that is all too vivid for me, as I lived in the shadow of this amazing story. My father was one of just eight Biospherians, the medical officer, inside Biosphere 2.
So strap yourselves in, as May 8th is the international launch date for the 2020 Sundance Film Festival selection: SPACESHIP EARTH.
Trailer: Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world. Neon, director Matt Wolf
This amazing documentary will stream on Hulu, and at a (virtual) theater near you! Visit https://neon-rated.webflow.io/films/spaceship-earth#virtual-cinema for a list of theaters in the US. We saw it at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. You don’t wanna miss it!
One of the extraordinary friendships in my life was with my father, Dr. Roy Walford. He and I worked together writing two popular books on his life extension research at UCLA. He was the medical officer inside Biosphere 2, where he was sequestered with seven other people for two years, Sept. 1991 – Sept. 1993. While I watched from outside, the Biospherians grew and harvested their own food, they recycled their precious water used to sustain life for all the species and plants that were brought on board the hermetically sealed futuristic looking Biosphere. It was truly a magical time of hope; hope that this 200-million dollar experiment could model a different kind of relationship between man and our earth. Hence the name Biosphere 2. And it was my privilege to work virtually alongside my father, from my office in his home in Venice, California.
He hoed, cooked, and ran scientific experiments; he documented both audacious art projects and the social dynamics of being cooped up for two years with seven other pioneers; he resigned as head of his research laboratory at UCLA to enter this adventure. Now the story is told. Dad, I hope you are watching, wherever you are up there, in here, in timeless space.
Biosphere 2 is in Oracle, Arizona. It still exists, although its magnificence has long since morphed into something simpler. This fascinating documentary shows how a small group of visionary individuals and eccentric adventurers accomplished something fantastic. With extensive footage from my father’s 500 hours of video he shot inside Biosphere 2, as well as historical recordings going back fifty years that introduce the idealistic and forward thinking pioneers who built it, this documentary is riveting.
Some perspective. In the 1990s I lived two lives. I was a newly certified Iyengar yoga teacher. While my father was inside Biosphere 2 I was producing, marketing and selling a computer software program, Dr. Walford’s Interactive Diet Planner, to track nutritional profiles and help people live healthier lives. I had an office inside a corner of his home. My mornings were spent practicing and teaching yoga and during the afternoon I would create nutritionally dense recipes and participate in online nutritional support groups. My father and I wrote what was probably the first paperless book while he was inside the Biosphere, The Anti-Aging Plan, Strategies and Recipes for Extending your Healthy Years. I remember telling him that his “edits” were coming in upside down, and could he turn the page so that I could incorporate his notes without standing on my head. Technology had limits in those days!
Now, technology will enable us to meet virtually, you the viewer and I, for an informal discussion on my years in the light of this story, in the shadow of my father, and my inspiration from having participated in this amazing saga. To join this discussion, visit https://zoom.us/j/96794507168 on Sat. May 16th, at 12:00pm PDT. You can also call +1.346.248.7799 and enter meeting ID 96794507168# when prompted.