Get the first look at a video clip from Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe’s Red Heaven, a prescient exploration of self-imposed quarantine that chronicles a one-year mission in a Mars simulation pod by six volunteers, set to World Premiere at the online edition of DOC NYC 2020.

In preparation for the first human mission to Mars, six non-astronauts from all over the world take part in the ultimate dress rehearsal – living inside a year-long NASA simulation station to understand the psychological effects of isolation on the human mind. The crew, who are all in their 30s, have backgrounds ranging from astrobiology to forestry and even space architecture and are largely confined to their dome on a remote Hawai’i volcano for the duration. There they experiment, exercise, collect data, shoot, file surveys… repeat. The film – shot by the subjects themselves -vividly captures their day to day lives as they’re pushed to their limits in an exploration of our most fundamental needs as human beings.

Lauren DeFilippo & Katherine Gorringe met while attending Stanford University’s Documentary Film and Video MFA program. Red Heaven marks the feature-length documentary directing debut for both filmmakers. DeFilippo is currently in production on the upcoming feature documentaries Free Money (dir./prod.) and Ailey (prod.). Gorringe’s short work has been featured at numerous festivals, including SXSW, CPH:DOX and Hot Docs, and her recent editing work includes the Emmy-nominated Netflix Original Saving Capitalism.