The Europa Report is a highly realistic dramatic film (in a found-footage documentary style) depicting a manned mission to the Jupiter moon Europa. It is currently available for rent on line (Europa Report – YouTube) and here is a recent review.
The screenwriter Philip Gelatt is interviewed at io9.com about how he went about creating the film’s hard sci-fi approach : How Real Scientists Shaped the Story of Europa Report – io9.com
There’s always a lot of complaints that science fiction isn’t really about science. I thought it would be kind of fun to try and do something that had aspirations to be hard science fiction. Especially in film, because you don’t really see it that often. A lot of things get a kind of pass if the characters in the fiction speak like the science is real. I think a lot of people think that Star Trek has some science to it, and it does but it’s mostly because those characters seem intelligent in that world. But there’s no such thing as teleportation and warp drives and those kinds of things.
So, yes, it was always the goal to make the science real. And people liked it. Early readers responded a little bit more to the—not to be spoilery— “who’s going to die next” a little bit more than the science. But I think the appeal rests in the conglomeration of the two. The goal was to write something that was interesting and exciting but then also had this base of science to it.
Also, on a more personal level, I realized that I couldn’t read non-fiction unless I’m being paid to read it. So I was really excited to have an excuse to force myself to wrap my head around these things. I don’t normally sit around and read about Europan science and deep space travel.
Here is the trailer:
