A still from The Phenomenon. Photo : 1091 Media

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If aliens exist, eventually we’ll know about it. How will we find out? What will they want? These are the kinds of questions that spark our imaginations every single day. Could the revelation possibly come in the form of a documentary? If the language being used to promote The Phenomenon is right, maybe it will.


Directed by James Fox and narrated by Peter Coyote, The Phenomenon is a new documentary that covers over 70 years of UFO history. It uses “never-before-seen archival footage” and interviews with major government officials (such as former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta) to tell a story, it claims, that “opens by proving there is a shocking ‘hidden history’” of UFOs, and ends with “an unsettling, unavoidable conclusion: ‘We are not alone.’”


Bold claims to be sure—and, to be fair, we haven’t seen the movie yet. But based on the possibility alone, io9 is excited to exclusively debut the trailer.

“Twenty-five years into investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, I’m faced with the unavoidable fact they’re real, they’re global, and we’re potentially dealing with a form of consciousness that shares our world and impacts our lives in powerful ways,” Fox said in a press release. “Our team has assembled the most compelling testimony and evidence from around the world that will lead even the most ardent skeptics to the inescapable conclusion that we are not alone.”

Now, let’s be honest here. Even if Fox brought an actual alien out in this movie and interviewed it for the entire runtime, people wouldn’t be convinced. Assuming it doesn’t do that though, the challenge for The Phenomenon will be to illuminate new stories in the realm of extraterrestrials and maybe make people question their own beliefs. No one expects actually this movie to prove anything. But it’s a pretty simple expectation, and almost a requirement, that it does the job of pointing the conversation about aliens in new directions, and it seems like it’s certainly going to do that.

The Phenomenon will be in theaters this September. Head to its official site here, or its distributor 1091 Media, for more info.


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