For those more sheltered researchers who have never been to the World UFO Congress held
yearly in Laughlin, Nevada, you should know that included with program of speakers from
around the world, the conference hosts the Annual UFO Film Festival where new UFO and
related documentaries compete in a series of Academy Awards style categories.
Every morning, for seven days, conference participants get out of bed early to go view the latest documentaries from film producers around the world. A panel of judges then reviews the various entries, and awards winners in the various academy awards style categories. Each winner receives the prestigious EBE Award.
The big winner at the 2002 World Congress, among the 17 documentaries entered, was the 70 minute documentary OUT OF THE BLUE. It won in the Best UFO Documentary - Long Subject category, and it also won the People's Choice Award voted on by the hundreds of attendees. OUT OF THE BLUE was produced and directed by James Fox, Tim Coleman, and Boris Zubov.
I was one of the many who saw the film in Laughlin. Now, having seen it again, I think it is even better than my first Laughlin impressions. This dim Laughlin recollection is probably due in part to the late night cocktail parties hosted at the Congress by Cynthia Siegel, the host of Sacramento Cable 73's UFO Connection.
OUT OF THE BLUE is a historic look at the UFO phenomena. It deals with many of the more prominent UFO people and events during the last half century. It begins with the stories of the World War II "Foo Fighters," and continues right up to present events. The documentary tells this UFO history with numerous UFO video clips, historic news footage segments, and scores of interviews done with those involved in the cases.It is a story that is told extremely well. Even my 19-year old son, who has limited tolerance for things Ufological, sat quietly for 35 minutes watching OUT OF THE BLUE before his cell phone rang and he headed off to attend to more important worldly events.
OUT OF THE BLUE has two very impressive investigative segments. One dealt with the 1997 Phoenix lights, and the second was on 1980 Rendlesham Forest sighting (which has gained widespread interest of late following the British governments opening of the Rendlesham file).Each of these two stories is told with many unseen interviews with witnesses and the UFO researchers collected the evidence. The Phoenix lights segment is almost nine minutes long and presents very strong witness testimony discounting the government explanation of flares as the cause of the sighting. The Rendlesham segment already discussed and showed the documents now being discussed in the press, and it includes all of the audio tapes taken by base members during the sighting.
Other key UFO events presented in OUT OF THE BLUE include the Graham Bethune sighting, Gordon Copper's involvement in the filming of a UFO at Edwards AFB, Robert Jacobs account of the Vandenberg AFB film showing a UFO disabling an Atlas missile in 1964, the 1967 "no-go" of almost 20 missiles at Malmstrom AFB during a UFO sighting in 1967, and the 1998 UFO film footage at Somerset, England.
OUT OF THE BLUE went to the former Soviet Union to conduct interviews with Generals and Major Generals who were involved in major UFO incidences and UFO investigations inside the secretive former communist state. Some of the more prominent Russian UFO cases are detailed. OUT OF THE BLUE deals with the involvement of U.S. presidents in the UFO mystery. The producers replay a November 2000 phone conversation they managed to get with former President Gerald Ford concerning his initiation of a congressional investigation following a series of UFO sightings in his home state of Michigan in 1965. The documentary looks at the Aalien invasion@ remarks made by President Reagan and replays video from his alien invasion remark made at the United Nations in 1987.Most importantly, the producers managed to get a video interview with former President Jimmy Carter. On the short clip Carter quickly mentioned the UFO sighting that he had in 1969. He is then asked the ultimate question of what he had done about UFOs while in the White House. Surprisingly, Carter answers the question. To see what he said you will have to watch the video.
As further support that this is one of the better documentaries of the last few year one has to go no further than to quote the words of Sceptic Magazine publisher Michael Shermer who wrote, "OUT OF THE BLUE breaks out of the paradigmatic mold and emerges as one of the very best films ever produced on this, one of the most interesting subjects in the history of science." In order to avoid being strung up by his buying public Shermer added AAlthough I remain skeptical that alien intelligences have visited Earth (until someone can produce for me an alien spacecraft or body)."
The weaknesses of the documentary are few. I am sure that many will attack the producers choice of using Colonel Philip Corso testimony to bolster their case. Others, if they even notice, will protest the use of one Billy Meier UFO video segment. I, of course, thought that their could have been much more on the Presidential role, but I do fully credit these documentary producers as being the first to actually review the Presidential role in the UFO mystery.
Hopefully, now that these three independent producers have spent their last pennies to produce this major documentary, they will be able to sell it to one of the cable networks so hundreds of thousands rather than hundreds can watch it. It would be a shame to lose the skills of these three film producers due to a lack of funding. This is because they seem to understand Ufology and its many pitfalls, and can present a documentary case that even a sceptic will love.
Copies are available at