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UFO & UAP

The Phenomenon: James Fox’s 2020 UFO Documentary

Released October 2020

Illustration of a documentary film poster showing lights over a landscape

The Phenomenon is a feature-length documentary directed by James Fox and released in October 2020. Narrated by actor Peter Coyote, it traces more than seventy years of UFO reports, from the late 1940s to the Pentagon videos that became public in 2017, and argues that the subject has been treated too dismissively by governments, scientists and the press.

The film arrived at a moment of renewed official interest in UAP and was widely reviewed, often more favourably than earlier UFO documentaries. It is openly an argument rather than a neutral survey, and it is best watched with that in mind.

The filmmaker

James Fox has spent most of his career making UFO documentaries. His earlier films include Out of the Blue (2003) and I Know What I Saw (2009), which gathered testimony from pilots, military personnel and officials. He later made Moment of Contact (2022), about the 1996 Varginha case in Brazil, and The Program, which featured Air Force veteran Jason Sands. His approach relies heavily on interviews with witnesses and people who held official positions.

Cases the film covers

The Phenomenon moves through a series of well-known episodes, using archive footage and new interviews to build a cumulative case. They include:

  • Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting near Mount Rainier, which launched the term flying saucer.
  • The 1947 Roswell incident, including archive interview material with Major Jesse Marcel.
  • The 1964 Socorro, New Mexico, landing report by police officer Lonnie Zamora.
  • The 1966 Westall sighting in Melbourne, Australia, in which students and staff at a school reported an object landing nearby.
  • The 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident near U.S. Air Force bases in England.
  • The 1994 Ariel School encounter in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, where dozens of children described seeing a craft and beings.
  • The U.S. Navy videos and the Pentagon’s UAP programmes that emerged from 2017 onward.

Who appears

Much of the film’s weight comes from its interviewees. They include former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who helped secure funding for the Pentagon’s UFO research in 2007–2008; John Podesta, former White House chief of staff; Christopher Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence; former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson; journalist Leslie Kean, who co-wrote the 2017 New York Times article revealing the Pentagon programme; and the researcher Jacques Vallée.

Alongside officials, the film gives substantial time to ordinary witnesses, including adults who were children at Westall and Ariel School and who continue to describe what they saw.

Reception

The Phenomenon received largely positive reviews in mainstream outlets, which tended to praise its sober tone, its credible interviewees and its avoidance of the sensational style common in the genre. It was distributed by 1091 Media and became widely available on streaming platforms.

Sceptical viewers criticised it for presenting cases selectively. Several of the incidents it features have conventional explanations or serious doubts attached that the film does not fully explore, and interviews with officials sometimes convey their openness to the subject more than any evidence they hold. The Pentagon footage, for example, remains unidentified rather than confirmed as anomalous, and analysts have proposed ordinary explanations for parts of it.

How to watch it

  • Treat it as an advocate’s case: it is designed to persuade that UFOs deserve serious attention.
  • Separate what is documented, such as the existence of Pentagon programmes, from what witnesses believe about the objects they saw.
  • Look up the individual cases. Several, including Roswell and Rendlesham, have detailed official or sceptical accounts that are worth reading alongside the film.
  • Note the date. The film predates the 2021 ODNI report, the 2023 congressional hearing and AARO’s 2024 historical review, which add important context.

Sources

  1. The Phenomenon (documentary film) — James Fox, 1091 Media, 2020
  2. Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program — The New York Times, 2017
  3. Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena — Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2021

This article has been compiled from the sources listed but has not yet been independently checked against them. If you spot an error, tell us. Contact

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