The short film 501 DAYS is a Mars space drama unique from all other onscreen stories about the red planet.

Directed by Thomas Hockey from a screenplay by Laurence Patrick (who also stars as the male lead in the short), 501 DAYS is based on an actual 2013 proposal by a nonprofit to send a crewed mission to Mars in 2018.

The non-defunct Inspiration Mars Foundation, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Denis Tito, was one of several highly-publicized initiatives by private entities to fund and plan a crewed mission to Mars. The foundation’s original mandate was to launch its mission in 2018, but due to lack of funding, the Inspiration Mars Foundation became defunct in 2015.

The Inspiration Mars mission intended to send two crew members - ideally a middle-aged married couple, on a “flyby” mission from earth to orbit - not land on - Mars and return within 501 days - hence the title of the film.

The short imagines the successful launch of a flyby Mars mission helmed by married astronauts Ellen (Hannah O’Leary) and Jim (Laurence Patrick).

The film begins in flashback to the couple celebrating their last days on earth before embarking on their mission. They are a couple very much in love and happily married.

The focus then shifts to the couple navigating life in their cramped spacecraft, 100 million miles away from earth. As they ruminate on the historic implications of their mission, including being the first humans to see Mars with the naked eye, a crisis gradually begins to come to their attention.

After being notified by mission command on earth that communications may be temporarily disrupted, the couple grow more concerned when they lose complete contact. With growing unease, Ellen and Jim contact the International Space Station, and receive the cryptic update that communication with earth was lost due to “meteorological phenomena.”

Their unease explodes into alarm when they lose contact with the International Space Station as well.

501 DAYS is different from other Mars dramas because it is not the astronauts who are in jeopardy due to a systems failure or mechanical malfunction with their equipment and/or spacecraft. Instead, something catastrophic has gone wrong on the earth.

The dramatic tension of the film emanates from the fact both viewers and the protagonists are left clueless as to what is happening on earth. This ambiguity draws viewers into the fraught situation of the astronauts as they battle to retain control of their growing feelings of anxiety and helplessness.

The conclusion of the film is intentionally left open-ended, which will be polarizing among viewers. Personally, I appreciate the filmmakers leaving the ending murky, because it allows the viewers to draw their own conclusions while respecting the enormous risks and dangers inherent in humans traveling into space.

Most importantly, the performances by the film’s two leads is the dynamo powering this compelling space drama. O’Leary and Patrick have electric chemistry. They are utterly convincing as a married astronaut team. Their characters anchor each other as they both grapple with the significant psychological challenges of being disconnected from earth in almost every conceivable way.

Watch 501 DAYS in its entirety below…

501 DAYS will win you over with its superb performances and compelling story of human connection and determination challenged by the harshest circumstances conceivable.

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