Alternative 3. 1977. Directed by Christopher Miles

Film

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Alternative 3. 1977. Great Britain. Directed by Christopher Miles. Courtesy of Thunderbird Releasing

Alternative 3. 1977. Great Britain. Directed by Christopher Miles. Screenplay by David Ambrose. With Tim Brinton, Gregory Munroe, Carol Hazell. 56 min.

Alternative 3 is said to have caused panic not seen since Orson Welles’s 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. This British faux documentary, produced in 1977 for Anglia TV’s factual Science Report series, purported to show the link between climate change and a secret government plot to send England’s best and brightest to colonize Mars. In today’s world, where inconvenient truths are dismissed as fake news and visionaries like Elon Musk promise to “make humanity a multi-planetary species,” reality seems to have caught up with Christopher Miles and David Ambrose’s brilliant hoax. Digital preservation courtesy of Thunderbird Films.

This film accompanies Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction.

Past events

Tue, Aug 29, 2017, 7:00 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Wed, Aug 16, 2017, 4:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

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