The Phoenix Lights Documentary made its first debut as a 10-minute short at the Bay Area UFO EXPO in Santa Clara, California on August 28th 2004. The film was far from being finished, but gave an enthusiastic crowd a sneak preview. Dr. Lynne Kitei was a keynote speaker at the event.

Six and a half months later, the documentary was barely finished in time for its World Premiere at the Harkins Shea 14 Theatre in Scottsdale, Arizona. The premiere date was Sunday March 13th 2005, the 8th anniversary of the Phoenix Lights event. The 13th happened to fall on a Sunday, which was perfect since most people were off that day. It also coincided with the Phoenix Film Festival which created a lot of buzz in the local community.

Executive Producer / Writer / Director, Lynne D. Kitei M.D. aggressively promoted the film on just about every news station, radio station and newspaper in Phoenix while Harkins placed a large ad in their weekend newspaper and displayed posters in theaters all around town. The tremendous advertising blitz drew a huge crowd and the theater sold out all three shows. It was overwhelming for me to see such a large crowd lined up to buy tickets for our movie.

Before the show Lynne was busy signing books and DVDs and we were both very busy meeting people and posing for photographers. By the time Lynne and I entered the theater there was no place to sit but in the far left side of the front row. On one hand it was convenient to be sitting in the front row since we stood up and welcomed everyone before the show. On the other hand, watching our film for the first time on a big screen while sitting so close was a little uncomfortable for me. I was already worried about the quality of blowing up DV footage on such a massive screen.

When it was time to make the first introduction to the documentary, Lynne and I stood in front of a packed theater and said a few words, which was followed by a large round of applause, then we sat down. As the lights dimmed we held each other's hands like vice grips. The movie started and we sat with awe, swept away by the intense excitement of seeing the fruits of our hard work blasted up on a large screen in front of hundreds of people. Much to my relief, the image quality was far better than I expected, thanks in part to a high-quality digital projector.

The euphoria lasted only for the first 20 minutes of the film when suddenly, it happened! A nasty flaw reared its ugly head!! Whenever Dr. Gary Schwartz appeared in the film, his voice came out of the side and rear speakers only. I immediately knew what the problem was, but there was nothing I could do but cringe every time Gary popped up on the screen.

I had a lot of trouble with Gary's sound recording. All of the other interviews were filmed in quiet locations using a directional stereo boom mic. Unfortunately, the only conference room that was available to interview Gary at the University of Arizona in Tucson, happened to be located next to a large air conditioning unit that was as big as a bus and created a very audible humm in the background. I had to resort to using my wireless mics which lacked the dynamic range of my boom mic. To be consistent with all the other interviews recorded in stereo, I put two Lavs on Gary and panned each mic full left and full right in post. That was a big mistake, but I had no idea at the time. After all, Gary sounded fine on my little playback speakers. Another problem was Gary's tendency to speak very quietly (almost whispering) one moment, then speak very loudly the next. I had to manipulate Gary's playback level using keyframes throughout the film in order to even out his vocal levels.

After the show, I knew Gary was going to come up and ask me why he sounded like "GOD" every time he spoke. I burst into laughter and joked with him about it. Needless to say it was the first thing I fixed after the premiere. Thankfully, the reviews were all positive and other than Gary, I never heard another word about it.

The World Premiere of the Phoenix Lights was so successful, Harkins extended the showings for several more weeks and included special showings in Prescott and Sedona. Thinking back, it was such a special time in my life that passed very quickly. I couldn't have imagined in those humble beginnings that the film would be selected into over a dozen international film festivals around the country, Canada and Australia, win several awards and nominations and play in many special events and prestigious theater venues.

I played the film in my home town of Grass Valley / Nevada City on July 3rd 2005 (my son Zachary's birthday) and was surprised to see a line down the street. The 330 seat theater was nearly sold out! I hosted a Q&A after the show that lasted almost an hour. The theater owner was so impressed by the turnout, he scheduled two more showings in September. The local Channel 10 affiliate did a story on me and aired it in time to promote the Nevada City screenings and I was invited to speak on the local talk radio stations to promote the special screenings. CH-10 INTERVIEW

In 2006, I posted our film trailer on YouTube which to date has received over a half-million hits and several hundred comments.

In March 2007, I wrote an article entitled "The Phoenix Lights - Debunking The Debunkers." You can read the original html version HERE. The article is featured on several UFO websites and linked on dozens of other UFO websites. It is the most comprehensive article anyone has ever written on the Phoenix Lights that addresses all of the theories skeptics have tossed around. I ruthlessly attacked each and every theory and brought up some very good points with regard to the plausible existence of UFOs.

Shortly after I finished the article, former Arizona Governor, Fife Symington, came forward and publicly admitted that he saw the enormous craft that flew over the city in 1997. His public admission was added to the end of our documentary and is the big finale we had hoped for.

In 2008, the film was picked up for domestic and international distribution by Vanguard Cinema. Coinciding with its official launch in the United States, Dateline aired a special on the top ten UFO events worldwide. The phoenix Lights was voted number one and Dr. Lynne Kitei was almost exclusively featured in the Phoenix Lights segment. The national exposure along with the Stephenville sightings in Texas put our documentary in the spotlight.

The Phoenix Lights furry has quieted down a bit. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to see our movie on the Blockbuster shelf with all the other new releases and eventually make its way to pay-per-view on several major cable networks. The experience has been more rewarding than I could ever have imagined back in February 2004 when I met Dr. Lynne for the first time!