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Good Night Oppy film image, director Ryan White

Good Night Oppy

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In 2003, NASA sent the exploration rover Opportunity on a mission to Mars. Intended to analyze rock and soil samples and expected to have a lifespan of only 90 days, the rover instead lived on for 15 years and continued to share vital dispatches from the Red Planet it now called home. With its devotion to its mission and its indomitable spirit, the rover earned the nickname Oppy and won the hearts of the earthbound NASA staff.

Their affection is shared and reflected by Ryan White, who helms this comprehensive documentary that doubles as an open-hearted, intergalactic underdog tale. Reassembling the key figures involved with Oppy’s mission, exhuming incredible archival footage, and collaborating with Industrial Light & Magic on awe-inspiring recreations, Good Night Oppy reminds us of friendship’s capacity to transcend tremendous distances and celebrates an extraordinary robot’s ability to bring out the best in its human colleagues.

 

Media Partner

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Director
Cast

Angela Bassett, Brandon Goldberg

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
G

Open to youth!

105 min
Documentary

Book Tickets

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Credits

Executive Producer

Stephen Neely, Max Wagner, Ryan Schiavo

Producer

Ryan White, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank

Screenwriter

Ryan White, Helen Keams

Cinematography

David Paul Jacobson

Editor

Helen Keams, Rejh Cabrera

Original Music

Blake Neely

Director

Ryan White headshot, Good Night Oppy director

Ryan White

Ryan White’s most recent directorial work, Coded (2021), won Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. His other work includes the five-part documentary series Visible: Out on Television, and the Emmy-nominated series The Keepers. He also directed The Case Against 8 (2014), which was nominated for two Emmys and for which he won a Directing Award at Sundance; Serena (2016), a year in the life of tennis legend Serena Williams; and Good Ol’ Freda (2013), the story of The Beatles’ longtime secretary Freda Kelly.

Filmography: Good Ol’ Freda (2013); The Case Against 8 (2014); Serena (2016); Ask Dr. Ruth (2019)