THE VISIT - AN ALIEN ENCOUNTER
This film documents an event that has never taken place - man's first encounter with intelligent life from space, but ever since the invention of radio, humans have been sending signals into space, announcing their existence to other civilizations.
With unprecedented access to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, the military, and experts from leading space agencies, the film explores a first contact scenario, beginning with the simplest of questions: Why are you here? How do you think? What do you see in humans that we don't see in ourselves? A journey beyond a terrestrial perspective, revealing the fears, hopes, and rituals of a species forced not only to confront alien life forms, but also its own self image.
Release: 2015 (Denmark)
Duration: 85 minutes
Genre: Documentary feature
Spoken language: English
Director: Michael Madsen
Cinematography: Heikki Färm
Editors: Nathan Nugent and Stefan Sundlöf
Sound Design: Peter Albrechtsen and Øivind Weingaarde
Composer: Karsten Fundal
Producer: Lise Lense-Møller
Production Countries: Denmark, Austria, Finland, Ireland and Norway
Production Company: Magic Hour Films
Coproducers: NGF Filmproduktion, Venom Productions, Mouka Filmi and Indie Film
Produced with support from: The Danish Film Institute, Nordic Film & TV Fond, Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, Film Location Austria (FISA), Land Niederösterreich, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, The Finnish Film Foundation, The Norwegian
Film Institute, The MEDIA Programme of the European Union, DR, VPRO, SVT and YLE.
The film was nominated for Planete Doc Review's 2015 Science Award, DocAviv Film Festivals 2015 Depth of Field Competition Award, Hamptons International Film Festival 2015 Documentary Feature Award, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival 2015 Best Feature Documentary Award, Moscow International Film Festival 2015 Best Film of the Documentary Competition Award, and Sundance Film Festival 2015 World Cinema - Documentary Award.
The film also won The Science Award at the 2015 Against Gravity Festival in Warszawa.