time machine // database // travel guide
timespace coordinates: 26 November 2008, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India
Hotel Mumbai is a 2018 biographical thriller film directed by Anthony Maras and written by John Collee and Maras. It is inspired by the 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai about the Mumbai attacks in 2008 at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India. The film stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Jason Isaacs, Suhail Nayyar, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo. (wiki)
timespace coordinates: In the 26th century, humanity has left an overpopulated Earth to colonize a new solar system. The central planets formed the Alliance and won a war against the outer planet Independents—those who resisted joining the Alliance.
Serenity is a 2005 American science fiction action film written and directed by Joss Whedon and stars Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
It is a continuation of Whedon’s short-lived 2002 Fox television series Firefly and stars the same cast, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2517, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of Serenity, a “Firefly-class” spaceship. The captain and first mate are veterans of the Unification War, having fought on the losing Independent side against the Alliance. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbors a dangerous secret. (wiki)
Session 416 / Cultural impact / Themes and cultural allusions / Cancelled sequel
On April 26, 1986, at 1:24am, a rainbow-colored flame shot 1,000 meters high into the Ukrainian sky. The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant just exploded. A battle begins in which 500,000 men are engaged throughout the Soviet Union to “liquidate” the radioactivity, build the “sarcophagus“ of the damaged reactor and save the world from a second explosion that would have destroyed half of Europe.
This documentary combines testimonials, unseen original footage and documents to recreate the events of the great battle of Chernobyl day-by-day, as each development unfolded. imdb
timespace coordinates: Boston-area, 2009
Knowing (stylized as KNOW1NG) is a 2009 science fiction thriller film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. (wiki)
M.I.T. professor John Koestler links a mysterious list of numbers from a time capsule to past and future disasters and sets out to prevent the ultimate catastrophe. (imdb)
(The video below may give away important plot points)
timespace coordinates: Europe at night (2008 – 2010)
Abendland is a 2011 observational documentary film by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The documentary, which has only scenes at night, explores European obsession with technology and security. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called Abendland a “visually precise and politically amorphous” portrait of an imagined community: “The overall impression is a vision of Europe as a mosaic, as an artful amalgam of perfectly framed, seemingly disconnected moments during a long shared night, give or take a time zone change or two.” (wiki)
timespace coordinates: 2000’s Cuba
Juan of the Dead (Spanish: Juan de los Muertos) is a 2010 zombie comedy film written and directed by Alejandro Brugués. A Spanish-Cuban co-production between La Zanfoña Producciones (Spain) and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida (Cuba) involving the participation of the ICAIC, Canal Sur and Televisión Española, the film won the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film in 2012. (wiki)
A group of slackers face an army of zombies. The Cuban government and media claim the living dead are dissidents revolting against the government. (imdb)
timespace coordinates: 2000’s Los Angeles
Hancock is a 2008 American superhero comedy film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith) from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock’s public image for the better. (wiki)
TimeSpace Warps 