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John Was Trying to Contact Aliens

Dir: Matthew Killip  16 mins

A Netflix Original Documentary

Winner: Sundance 2020 Short Film Jury Award: Non-Fiction

Winner: Best Short IDA documentary Awards 2020

JOHN SHEPHERD had a special mission in life: to make contact with aliens. Over the course of thirty years John transformed his grandparents' home in rural Michigan into an incredible laboratory from which he broadcast experimental music millions of miles into space. John Was Trying to Contact Aliens charts the rise and fall of this one man SETI project, before opening up into a broader story about the human need for connection.

MATTHEW KILLIP's short documentaries have been broadcast on UK television and played at film festivals around the world, including Sundance, IFFR and True/False Film Fest. He also works as an editor, most notably having collaborated over multiple projects with artist Jeremy Deller and director Michael Almereyda. He lives in New York.

Poster by ROBERT BEATTY 

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