| The Phenomenon | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | James Fox |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Narrated by | Peter Coyote |
| Cinematography | David E. West |
| Music by | Christopher Hoag |
Production company | CE3 |
| Distributed by | 1091 Media |
Release date |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Phenomenon is a 2020 documentary film written and produced by ufologist James Fox.
The Phenomenon covers the (then) recently released Pentagon UFO videos, but its primary focus is the history of UFO sightings in the time since World War II, [1] and it makes a case for greater scientific study of "the UFO phenomenon". [2]
The film includes footage or archival interviews with Kenneth Arnold, who coined the phrase "flying saucer" after his 1947 sighting; Maj. Jesse Marcel of the Roswell incident; ufologist Jacques Vallee, whose research uncovered the "Pentacle Memorandum"; witnesses to the Ariel School, the Westall UFO, the Lonnie Zamora, and the Rendlesham Forest incidents; and military personnel and other individuals connected with the Pentagon UFO videos. [1] [2] [3] It also features interviews with former US Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta, former deputy undersecretary for Defense Intelligence Christopher Mellon, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, and journalist Leslie Kean. [4] [5] In the film, Reid is asked about other evidence and replies "I'm saying most of it hasn't seen the light of day." [6]
The film was released on 6 October 2020, [1] and was promoted as being "the most credible and revealing film ever made about the long-standing global cover-up and mystery involving unidentified aerial phenomenon." [7] It is James Fox's fourth film on the subject of UFOs, the first three being UFOs: 50 Years of Denial? (1997),I Know What I Saw (2009) and Out of the Blue (2003). It is narrated by veteran PBS narrator Peter Coyote. [4]
Tom Rogan, the national security writer and online editor of the Washington Examiner said that the primary focus of the film is the broad, post-World War II history of this subject. He reported that the "documentary is bold but necessarily grounded. The vast majority of witnesses... either come from military backgrounds, have held high security clearance positions in government, or the defense sector." Rogan concludes that "there is no question that there are charlatans in this field. It's also absolutely true that most UFOs can be explained by weather conditions or misidentified observations of conventional aircraft. It's also true that we know far less about what's going on with the rare UFOs than what we do know. But this is a subject that demands, and within government is now getting, serious attention." [1]
Writing for Movie Geeks, Marc Butterfield said "If you aren’t disturbed after you watch this documentary, you weren’t paying attention." Butterfield concludes that "while we now know that they (whoever 'they' are) are out there, we still have no idea what they want, where they're from, what they are doing. here at all. There is the one thing that this documentary can say that it does: removes doubt. There can be no further discussion about 'if' they are out there. We now know that they do, beyond the shadow of a doubt. If you only see one documentary this year, The Phenomenon movie is the one." [8]
Brian Lowry of CNN wrote that the film is "an earnest documentary most notable for the former officials that lend credence to the notion the government knows much more than it has shared, and that the truth, well, is out there." Lowry concludes "If you're intrigued by the topic at all – and who isn’t? – this documentary might be a little too breathless, but it usefully updates the conversation through the flurry of activity over the last few years." [6]
Nick Johnston of Vanyaland wrote that the documentary "is a surprisingly compelling watch that takes full advantage of the new and fascinating revelations about true Unidentified Flying Objects and the government's long history of denial and, ultimately its recent disclosure that, yes, these things exist and, no, we don't have a single clue what they are." [9]
Ed Conroy of the San Antonio Express-News reported that "Taken together, the people interviewed in the documentary make a case for greater scientific study of the UFO phenomenon, for greater public understanding of it, and for an end to official secrecy." He also wrote that the film's director Fox said "Our intention in making this documentary was to create the seminal feature that would treat this subject in the manner it deserves with great intellectual integrity, and in doing so transcend the UFO community and reach a much broader audience". [2]
Adrian Horton of The Guardian wrote "The Phenomenon, like the many extraterrestrial documentaries before it, ultimately can’t stake a claim on certainty; instead, it concludes with a call for consideration." [4]
Hannah Tran of Film Festival Today wrote "while not every bit of information proves to be as interesting as the next, there are a number of truly tremendous stories strategically sprinkled throughout that continue to keep interest high... In its final moments, The Phenomenon’s ability to not merely present information but also meditate on its meaning shines through and elevates the film to a new level. Not only does it contextualize its abundance of information, but it connects it directly to the fears and anxieties of the modern viewer that will linger long after watching." [10]
An unidentified flying object (UFO), or unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP), is any perceived airborne, submerged or transmedium phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UAPs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.
UFO conspiracy theories are a subset of conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.
Ufology is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience.
The Travis Walton incident was an alleged alien abduction of American forestry worker Travis Walton on November 5, 1975, while he was part of a logging crew in the Apache–Sitgreaves National Forests near Heber, Arizona.
The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.
The Varginha UFO incident involves a series of events in 1996 when residents of Varginha, Brazil claimed seeing one or more strange creatures and at least one unidentified flying object (UFO). Other associated claims include the capture of one or more extraterrestrial beings by the Brazilian authorities, animal fatalities at a zoo, and a woman impregnated by an extraterrestrial. The reports have garnered extensive media coverage.
Josef Allen Hynek was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three projects: Project Sign (1947–1949), Project Grudge (1949–1951) and Project Blue Book (1952–1969).
Jacques Fabrice Vallée is an Internet pioneer, computer scientist, venture capitalist, author, ufologist and astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California and Paris, France.
Skinwalker Ranch, also known as Sherman Ranch, is a property of approximately 512 acres (207 ha), located southeast of Ballard, Utah, that is reputed to be the site of paranormal and UFO-related activities. Its name is taken from the skin-walker of Navajo legend concerning vengeful shamans.
The Westall UFO was a reported UFO sighting in Australia that occurred on 6 April 1966 in Melbourne, Victoria. The object was observed by multiple individuals, including students at Westall High School. Specific details vary between accounts, which increases the difficulty of identification. The sighting has been commemorated with documentaries, reunions, and a local UFO playground.
Jimmy Carter, United States president from 1977 until 1981, reported seeing an unidentified flying object while at Leary, Georgia, in 1969. While serving as governor of Georgia, Carter was asked by the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City to file a report of the sighting, and he filed a statement on September 18, mailed September 20. Since its writing, the report has been discussed several times by both ufologists and by members of the mainstream media.
Christopher Karl Mellon, is a private equity investor, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and later for Security and Information Operations. He formerly served as the Staff Director of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a member of the influential Mellon family out of the Greater Pittsburgh area. Mellon has lobbied for U.S. government investigations into UFO/UAP.
The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.
The Aztec, New Mexico UFO hoax was a flying saucer crash alleged to have happened in 1948 in Aztec, New Mexico. The story was first published in 1949 by author Frank Scully in his Variety magazine columns, and later in his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. In the mid-1950s, the story was exposed as a hoax fabricated by two con men, Silas M. Newton and Leo A. Gebauer, as part of a fraudulent scheme to sell supposed alien technology. Beginning in the 1970s, some ufologists resurrected the story in books claiming the purported crash was real. In 2013, an FBI memo claimed by some ufologists to substantiate the crash story was dismissed by the bureau as "a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated".
UFOs: Past, Present, and Future is a 1974 documentary film that examines several prominent UFO sightings from the post-war to contemporary era. It was re-released in 1976 and 1979 under the title UFOs: It Has Begun to coincide with renewed interest in the subject due to the release of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is based on the book UFOs: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Emenegger.
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was an unclassified but unpublicized investigatory effort funded by the United States Government to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP). The program was first made public on December 16, 2017. The program began in 2007, with funding of $22 million over the five years until the available appropriations were ended in 2012. The program began in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
The Pentagon UFO videos are selected visual recordings of FLIR targeting from United States Navy fighter jets based aboard aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004, 2014 and 2015, with additional footage taken by other Navy personnel in 2019. The four grainy, monochromic videos, widely characterized as officially documenting UFOs, have received extensive coverage in the media since 2017. The Pentagon later addressed and officially released the first three videos of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in 2020, and confirmed the provenance of the leaked 2019 videos in two statements made in 2021. Footage of UAPs was also released in 2023, sourced from MQ9 military drones.
Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, also known as the UAP Report and colloquially named the Pentagon UFO Report, is a United States federally mandated assessment, prepared and published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on June 25, 2021, summarizing information regarding unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) which include unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Substantial public attention had been given to the mandated June 25 report, fueled by statements by former high level officials in the U.S. government, including former president Barack Obama, who stated in June 2021 "...there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are."
On 16 September 1994, there was a UFO sighting outside Ruwa, Zimbabwe. Sixty-two pupils at the Ariel School aged between six and twelve said that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on a field near their school. Some of the children claimed that one or more creatures dressed all in black then approached and telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme, frightening them and causing them to cry.
James C. Fox is an English-born American documentary filmmaker, best known for executive producing documentaries about UAPs, such as Out of the Blue (2003), Pretty Slick (2016) about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, The Phenomenon (2020), and Moment of Contact about the Varginha UFO incident. He has twice appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, first in December 2020 alongside Jacques Vallée, and second by himself in April 2023.
