Missile Command
A story told at a game console inside a nuclear control facility.
- Period
- 2023
- Status
- Complete / Archived
- Form
- Documentary short · 8 minutes
The project
It tells the story of a 1980s Atari developer who took inspiration from nuclear game theory, retold largely by a park manager charged with preserving the nuclear control facility as he plays the game on a console in his office. The short film asks: what times, scales, and histories are left untouched by an unbeatable arcade game that points towards the end of the world?
Missile Command is an excerpt from Topography, our larger multi-format project about public lands. We filmed it inside a decommissioned nuclear control facility in the Badlands.
The short premiered at Transmediale in Berlin on February 5, 2023, as part of A History of Maps in Twelve Worlds at Akademie der Künste.
My role
I co-directed and produced the film and served as virtual cinematographer.
Supported by
- Institutional Support
Supported by a University of California, Santa Cruz Department Travel Award
2023 - Residency
Developed with support from the Badlands National Park Artist-in-Residence program
2021–2022
Selected credits
- Alexander Porter
- Director / Producer / Virtual Cinematographer
- Hannah Jayanti
- Director / Producer / Cinematographer / Editor / Sound