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timespace coordinates: 2004 Khao Lak, Thailand
The Impossible (Spanish: Lo Imposible) is a 2012 disaster drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Sergio G. Sánchez. It is based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The cast includes Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland.
Home is a 2009 French documentary film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The English version was read by Glenn Close.
The film was financed by Kering, a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands, as part of their public relations strategy. (wiki)
Yann Arthus-Bertrand said in a TED talk that the movie has no copyright.
A Beautiful Planet is a 2016 American documentary film that explores Earth by showing IMAX footage that was recorded over the course of fifteen months by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The filmmakers who created the movie and the astronauts who filmed it and starred in it intended to help viewers experience the awe and wonder that come from looking down on our planet from space. It is narrated by Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Lawrence; she has called A Beautiful Planet “a love letter to Earth.”
The film also examines some of the daily experiences of the astronauts, who represent the respective space agencies for the United States, Russia, Europe, and Japan. This multinational crew lives and works on the Space Station, an orbiting symbol of cutting edge technology and peaceful international cooperation which is presented as “a truly awesome example of what we can achieve when we work together.” (wiki)
A_Beautiful_Planet#The_big_picture
A_Beautiful_Planet#Spaceship_Earth
A_Beautiful_Planet#Exoplanet_Kepler-186f
timespace coordinates: near future Mariana Trench, the Pacific Ocean/ Hainan, China, Thailand, Japan
The Meg is a 2018 US–Chinese science fiction action thriller film directed by Jon Turteltaub, loosely based on the 1997 book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. the film follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. (wiki)
timespace coordinates: 1968 – 1975 Harlem / Golden Triangle
American Gangster is a 2007 American biographical crime film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by Steven Zaillian. The film is fictionally based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by detective Richie Roberts. The film stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in their first lead acting roles together since 1995’s Virtuosity. The film also co-stars Ted Levine, John Ortiz, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Ruby Dee, Lymari Nadal and Cuba Gooding Jr. Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts were on-set consultants to director Ridley Scott and the crew throughout filming.
“I wanted to be rich. I wanted to be Donald Trump rich, and so help me God, I made it.” Frank Lucas
timespace coordinates: 2000’s Thailand
Thai filmmaker Pen-ek Ratanaruang directs the character-driven drama Last Life in the Universe, co-written by first-time screenwriter Prabda Yoon. Kenji (Tadanobu Asano) is a Japanese man living in Bangkok. He lives a tidy, silent lifestyle fueled by the detached desire to kill himself. Meanwhile, Noi (Sinitta Boonyasak) is a pot-smoking call girl who lives in a shabby beachside home outside the city. She tries to teach herself to speak Japanese with hopes of moving to Osaka. One day, Kenji walks into his apartment as his brother Yukio (Yutaka Matsushige) is involved in a gun fight with gangster (yakuza) Takashi (Riki Takeuchi). Then Kenji accidentally witnesses the death of Noi’s lovely sister, Nid (Laila Boonyasak), with whom he first became smitten at the library. Having nowhere to go, Kenji goes to live with Noi for a few days, leading to the development of a strange and sensitive relationship. With cinematography by Hong Kong-based photographer Christopher Doyle. Last Life in the Universe won an Upstream Prize at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. (rottentomatoes)
timespace coordinates: late 2000’s Chiang Mai Prison, Klong Prem Central Prison aka “Bangkok Hilton,” Thailand.
A Prayer Before Dawn is a 2017 internationally co-produced prison-/boxing-/survival-drama film directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, from a screenplay written by Jonathan Hirschbein and Nick Saltrese, starring Joe Cole. It is based on the book A Prayer Before Dawn: My Nightmare in Thailand’s Prisons by Billy Moore.
The true story of an English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand’s most notorious prisons as he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.
The inmates in the film are all played by real ex-inmates who have served time in Thai prisons.
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