source: Ariel Phenomenon

I strongly recommend this movie, regardless of your personal beliefs. I've always wondered why the 'Ariel event' of 1993 hadn't received more publicity, given with all the movies and shows on the subject of UFO's and the growing popularity, open mindedness and acceptance of and about UFO's and extra terrestrials. With such fantastic eye witnesses accounts you'd think that this would be the mainstay story right up there and like Roswell. Maybe because they have been working on producing a movie worthy of that incredible 1993 day in Zimbabwe, South Africa. This movie on the account of multiple UFO's landing in a school and many school children eye witnesses of not only the space craft landing BUT ACCTUAL ALIENS STARING AT THEM OUT SIDE OF THE CRAFT. Mind blowing. If after seeing this movie you still believe that there is no such thing as UFO's and aliens then frankly there is something wrong with you...

Parts of this film are quite old so hopefully things have changed by now, but Harvard really gave Dr. Mack a hard time which I had not known about. As someone in the doc says, you can believe in God and angels etc., at Harvard, but not in ET life. The other disturbing part was how the very religious parents of one of the girls (Emily Trim), reacted to the incident. I've always suspected that religious people would have their worlds rocked by an ET encounter but this proved just how much it upset them because they wouldn't even let their kids talk about it and they moved back to Canada as soon as it happened (they had been sent to Africa by the Salvation Army to do religious work). Although perhaps not all religions are as closed-minded because in 1959, Father William B. Gill, an Anglican missionary, saw a space ship in Papua New Guinea and he didn't seem freaked out at all. But it's a good doc even if you know the story and have seen clips of the kids before. It would have been nice if more of the former students could have been in it as adults now because I think those were the best parts. But it's definitely a good watch if you're a UFO buff.

This is remarkable documentary for many reasons. First of all, I can't really think of a better strictly anecdotal case of the UFO/Alien phenomenon than this case. The production team does a wonderful job capturing the event from the perspective of these children while neatly threading it through the lens of that investigation that followed. It's really quite compelling. If you think that 60 kids made this up, with zero incentive to do so, and have maintained their position almost 30 years later, well, quote the cynic you are. What is most moving was the way this documentary captured the emotional and sociological impact this sighting had on some of the kids as they aged and became adults. To believe so strongly that you saw something which has enormous existential impact on not just you but your entire race, but with no way to prove it in any meaningful or cathartic way, is a heavy burden to wear. The documentary does a great job capsulizing this.

This goes into much more detail than the short clips you saw in James Fox's The Phenomenon regarding the Ariel School UFO sighting in Zimbabwe. I had goosebumbs and chills for the majority of the film as the witness testimony is both spinechilling and awe-inspiring at the same time. There's one aspect of the encounter (and other UFO encounters reported throughout history as I've now learned) that isn't discussed often in the UFO phenomenon. Without spoiling it all for you, but it concerns the way the alien beings move or walk (as if in slow-motion) that is just riveting. That was my first WOW moment watching this. You have to hear it from the witnesses to really wrap your head around it. It's probably a blessing in disguise that it had taken so long for this documentary to be released now in 2022 (with US Congress openly discussing their UFO encounters this month), this film will have bigger impact. Once you accept the UFO reality for how it's presented by what these schoolchildren saw, then one has to ponder the bigger mysteries of the universe, and that's where the final 15mins of the movie is its most impactful. Overall, this is essential viewing and must not be dismissed.

This movie has everything and anything you need to start believing in this topic. This is not just a bunch of clips put together but indeed a human account of a event that shocked so many. It takes you to the kids being interviewed in all age groups. To the aftermath of the kids grown up and recalling the events with the maturity and wisdom of their own. To see the BBC reporter admit he was overwhelmed and shaken from this event to the facial expressions of the kids will keep your mind captivated to the end. This movie is passed well and the edits keep the story on a human level. At the end of the story you will want to rewatch it again. Finally I will say having 64 to 70 kids tell a story of such a life changing event and anyone who knows kids and young adults truly knows they are telling the truth. Five ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars.

Cannot wait for a director's cut. Honestly wanted it to be longer (30+ minutes). I would say self-hosting the film for streaming was a miscalculation and a bad idea. Randy and company should put the film up on a various pay-to-rent streaming platforms to allow for a more seamless rental experience. The process of streaming the film is too involved and has too many issues, even still. Could not get the film to play for me in Safari at all. Got it to play in Firefox, but at first also had issues in Firefox. In both browsers I turned off all browser extensions, to be sure that was not the issue. It was not. In Firefox playing also failed for me once mid-film. Had to start over and find where I was in the timeline again. Try hosting a home viewing of the film with these playback issues. I would not. Crowd-funders should be offered a download file to keep, as was promised six years ago during a crowdfunding round. Crowd-funders should not need to wait down the line for this. I give Randy ten stars largely because of the years and sheer effort involved in bringing this project together into this film, which I believe to be a true story. I find people who cannot accept these legit events with many obviously sincere witnesses, do so out of fear. We do not control the universe. Our bodies and egos die at end of our lives, guys... get over yourselves. The soul or spirit are our real energy bodies. Our consciousness or awareness extends beyond the body, through our eyes and our other senses. We will never be able to figure all of this out scientifically, because consciousness is involved in the phenomenon. Look to phenomena such as human-to-animal and animal-to-human communication (otherwise known as animal-to animal communication) to get a peek into the possible in consciousness (many documentaries on YouTube on these subjects. You will say this cannot be real until the day you except it as real). We are conscious beings living in an interconnected web of consciousness. Until people can admit to this truth we will never be able to evolve much further beyond throwing technology at every problem. Technology will evolve, but we won't really. In fact, as technology evolves there's a good chance we could devolve. We are the key to our problems. Our stubbornness and our closed-mindedness prevents us from seeing larger realities and unlocking the impossible. Not technologically, but reality wise. How did the beings hop across the ground without touching the ground? How did they appear to move in slow motion and yet move around the children from place to place very quickly? Why did the scenes witnessed by the children appear to repeat themselves over and over from their perspective? What is awareness? How could the beings transmit images and see into the minds of the children without speaking? Consciousness is our bigger reality and the key to all of these questions. Randy, please consider putting the film up on Vimeo and try your best to get the film up on Netflix streaming service. I'm not on Prime, but I'm sure Prime users would be happy to have it there, too. This would encourage myself and others to tell more people to go watch the film. Currently would be uncomfortable telling people to go watch, considering the issues I had playing the film. This was after all of the technical streaming issues were supposed to have been fixed. You need to meet viewers where they are and give them what they want. Very glad Randy didn't allow Hollywood to "sci-fi" the film. Frankly, I would have preferred even less music in the film, especially regarding any music that sounded even remotely "sci-fi". Classical music is where it's at for this documentary.

Anyone who likes documentaries or has an interest in UFOs or anyone who breaths air will find this show interesting. Unlike many UFO shows/series/documentaries it avoids a spooky movie theme. Instead it focuses on how this 1994 event affected the people who were there. It is the first 10/10 I've ever given.

The gravity of the UFO/EBE event at The Ariel School in Zimbabwe was heightened by the sheer number of witnesses along with the fact it may have lasted fifteen or so minutes. Events like this are rare, of course, and would possibly even be singular as the EBEs interacted with some of the witnesses. Quite a stir locally quickly spread wider as all news services picked it up. The BBC felt compelled by duty to dig deeper. So begins the larger story of what many consider the most credible mass-sighting event in the modern world. Tim Leach of the BBC's Zimbabwe Bureau was immediately on the story interviewing the witnesses at Ariel School who witnessed the event. Leach, finding the many children wholly believable felt the need to better document the amazing daylight encounter of not only the unknown flying vehicle but interaction between some of the students with unknown beings. Leach called Harvard University's John Mack. Mack immediately knew this was something beyond compelling, historically important in mankind's history. Mack travelled eight-thousand miles to Africa to interview the witnesses first-hand. He documented interviews with the students on video and audio as well as taking extensive written notes as he found the event amazing and credible. Now in 2022 filmmaker/researcher Randall Nickerson gives viewers a deep dive back to the Ariel School Event of 1994. Combining both Leach's and Mack's video interviews with new interviews of many of the witnesses some twenty-five plus years on often proves amazing. It re-elevates the importance of this still unexplained event much as it should be in an age when The United States of America government/military has finally admitted to the existence of unexplained flying phenomenon. I think Nickerson has done a service to the larger need for open and transparent disclosure on what has been closeted for myriad reasons - including the always hovering one of ridicule. Bringing The Ariel School Event back into the public eye with actual witnesses is simply fascinating. As such I feel this is a very important film.

I was following the production of this documentary on social media, with lame replies from Randall and crew saying be patient, it's coming, etc etc etc. This was well over 7 years ago! Year after year went past and their replies just went dead all of a sudden, so I thought, you know what, I'm done waiting and gave up on them. I also deleted my social media account over 3 years ago. So they probably updated the status of their documentary at some point and obviously I never got to see it. Then I was watching the 'Bedtime Stories' channel on youtube recently (highly recommend) who did a story about this, and suddenly remembered the documentary. So I looked it up expecting it to still be dead in the water only to find out in was released May of this year! I only watched the documentary because Ariel School is up there with one of my favourite UFO/Alien stories. Wow....we waited this long for this? Terribly filmed with what looks like cheap DSLR cameras or even a smart phone with a film app for that matter, by someone who is obviously a terrible cameraman. While I appreciate the effort put into making this, it just fell utterly flat on it's face. The only interesting bits worth watching are the 1994 segments of the children being interviewed and everything filmed back then. You will see footage you haven't seen on youtube before. The rest is disjointed, rushes through interviewers with the now adult children, and spends most of it's time filming Emily Trim, without delving into what she really experienced and felt. She also became annoying. Just totally disappointing. This doco just doesn't get into the grit of the story and neglects the other witnesses. For example getting them all together or having people deeply interested with their experiences talking to them etc etc. So many things could have been done but no.