Ancient Astronauts with curator Ed Halter
Saturday, 7:00 pm, McCormack Observatory
In the 1970s, financial struggles in Hollywood, as well as the increased popularity of pseudoscience and parapsychology, led to the unlikely rise of small independent distributor Sun International. The company released an adaptation of Erich von Däniken’s best-selling book Chariots of the Gods in 1974 that grossed $26 million, followed by titles on Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs, the search for Noah’s Ark, and two more documentaries on “ancient astronauts.” Sun’s success inspired other outfits to distribute cheaply made movies and TV shows about Nostradamus, end-times theology, and controversial “catastrophist” Immanuel Velikovsky.
Critic and curator Ed Halter presents an illustrated lecture and clip show on the curious success of SunGHW International and its numerous imitators. Halter analyzes a markedly different era of film distribution and questions the longstanding appeal of outlandish theories. Included in the program will be the complete Chariots of the Gods.
