Operation Avalanche is a 2016 American-Canadian found footage conspiracy thriller film directed by Matt Johnson, who co-wrote the film with Josh Boles. Johnson and Owen Williams star as CIA agents who infiltrate NASA to expose a potential mole, only to become embroiled in a conspiracy to fake the Moon landing portion of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.
Operation Avalanche | |
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Directed by | Matt Johnson |
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Written by |
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Music by | Jay McCarrol |
Cinematography |
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Edited by | Curt Lobb |
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Distributed by | Lionsgate Premiere |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
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Language | English |
Screenplay
Two CIA agents, part of the Agency’s (then) small Audio Visual (AV) Department, infiltrate NASA to expose a potential mole working for the Soviet Union. There, they find that NASA has kept its inability to reach the 1969 deadline for the Apollo 11 Moon landing a secret, with a plan to cover the problem by shooting down the Apollo 11 capsule (killing the real astronauts) and blaming the Soviets. When the young agents learn that the Moon mission can execute everything but the lunar landing itself, they become involved in a plot to use their AV skills to fake the landing portion. As their operation continues to a successful conclusion, the team becomes increasingly paranoid that they are being watched, by either the mole or by the CIA itself. As the Apollo 11 mission nears, the team buries copies of what becomes the found footage in a verdant rural field.
Many of the actors, including the five leads, used their real names. Those actors scrolled in the end credits as “Himself” or “Herself”, while others scrolled with their character’s name.
- Matt Johnson
- Owen Williams
- Andy Appelle
- Jared Raab
- Josh Boles
- Ray James as Director Brackett
- Sharon Belle
Production took place in Toronto, Houston, and Washington, D.C., starting June 30, 2014. The NASA scenes were shot on location. To get permission, Johnson told them he was making a student documentary. Additional scenes were accomplished through liberal application of newly-permissive fair use laws.
Operation Avalanche premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Johnson had received an offer to premiere the film at the Toronto International Film Festival but declined, reasoning that the film would be lost in the large number of films shown there. Lionsgate released it in the US on September 16, 2016.
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 69% of 51 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.4/10. Metacritic rated it 69/100 score based on 18 reviews. Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Matt Johnson and Owen Williams' wild, borderline-illegal stunt delivers big time on its crazy premise." John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "likeable if not always convincing fantasy that gets much mileage from its period feel". Anthony Kaufman of Screen Daily wrote that the film "comes across more as a rambling lark than a tightly conceived film".
Accolades
Awards | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
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Canadian Screen Awards | Best Motion Picture | Matthew Miller, Lee Kim and Matt Johnson | Nominated | |
Best Director | Matt Johnson | Nominated | ||
Best Overall Sound | Matt Chan | Nominated | ||
Best Sound Editing | Matt Chan, James Patrick and Frieda Bay | Nominated | ||
Best Costume Design | Megan Oppenheimer | Nominated | ||
Best Visual Effects | Tristan Zerafa | Nominated | ||
Kingston Canadian Film Festival | People's Choice Award | Matt Johnson | Won | |
Toronto Film Critics Association | Best Canadian Film | Matt Johnson | Runner-up |
- Moon landing conspiracy theories in popular culture