The Namib Desert Serves as the Backdrop for Flight of the Phoenix

James Ferrari is a New York City-based real estate professional who founded Benjamin James East Corp., a company focusing on residential rentals. Aside from his role at Benjamin James East Corp., James Ferrari is also an artist, writer, philanthropist, and filmmaker. In association with these roles, he served as a liaison to the nation of Namibia during the filming of Flight of the Phoenix, released in 2004.

Directed by John Moore, Flight of the Phoenix stars Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, and Hugh Laurie. The film, a remake of the 1965 classic starring Jimmy Stewart, is based on a novel by Elleston Trevor.

Flight of the Phoenix tells the story a group of passengers who survive a plane crash in the Gobi Desert. Stranded in an isolated, remote area, the passengers decide to rebuild the plane from the wreckage in order to survive.

Though the story is set in the Gobi Desert, Flight of the Phoenix was filmed in the Namib Desert in Namibia, Africa. The desert has served as the backdrop for numerous films, including Samsara, Mad Max: Fury Road, and A Far Off Place. One of the oldest deserts in the world, the Namib stretches inland from the Atlantic Ocean and covers portions of Angola and South Africa.

MIT Solve Addresses Mental Health and Other Challenges

The creative director of Tribal Truth Media, James Ferrari also founded the Benjamin James East Corporation in 1993 to provide rental and marketing services for the condo industry. Alongside his entrepreneurial efforts, James Ferrari encourages innovative endeavors through contributions to groups such as MIT Solve.

Since its founding in 2015, MIT Solve has sought to discover solutions through technological innovation. As part of this mission, the organization proposes specific questions in a diverse range of fields. For example, recently Solve posed the following question in the field of brain health:

“How can every person improve their brain health and mental resilience?”

This challenge focuses on the increasingly important issue of mental health and cognitive function. It opened in May of 2017 and evaluation of the submitted solutions began in August. Final voting concluded on September 16th, followed the next day by the Solve Challenge Finals in New York City.

For more information about the winning solutions to this challenge or to participate in future challenges, visit http://solve.mit.edu.