My Summer Lair Chapter #322: What Would Make You Believe They’re Here?
UFO stories typically generate one question:
Did it really happen?
But the fantastic documentary They’re Here asks a better question:
What happens to the people who say it did happen?
They’re Here opens with Cookie, one of the doc’s main characters—and I’m aware of how loaded that word is considering we’re talking about UFO sightings—and Cookie shows the window on the side of her house where she has been taken.
Cookie calmly reveals she has been abducted fourteen times by aliens in a high-tech UFO.
Wait. Here’s where it gets interesting.
In the doc she says it’s okay if people or the viewers…don’t fully believe yet; it’s not their time. She is saying her incredible story doesn’t depend on our belief or acceptance for it to be true.
She’s right. That’s the issue with UFO abductions or even UFO sightings. Some stories you can dismiss, you can disprove others…but some experiences and this is kinda what Cookie is getting at…simply requires faith.
My conversation with the filmmakers of They’re Here—Pacho Velez & Daniel Claridge—is brimming with religious and spiritual terminology like faith. We talk about miracles and pilgrimages.
To quote the Bible; Hewbews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Oh we’re talking about UFOs but we’re not talking about UFOs…does that make sense?
Daniel and Pacho offer an astonishing observation:
The people who they’ve talked to about UFOs…the individuals in their documentary, have some sort of need…some sort of faith and that is why they have had a Close Encounter.
The filmmakers have not seen anything. Hmm.
Think about it…in the New Testament, we tend to focus on Jesus and his magical miracles…we rarely unpack the audience. Why did Jesus perform a miracle for those specific spectators?
Oh we’re talking about UFOs but we’re not talking about UFOs…does that make sense?
This is a dense My Summer Lair episode. From mysterious sightings over New York to a growing community of believers, skeptics, and the UFO-curious, The Day Earth Stood Still (fantastic movie) the documentary looks less at the sky… and more at the humans on Earth.
I’m talking with filmmakers Daniel and Pacho about curiosity, connection, and community…because the search for extra-terrestrials means we have to listen to each other.
So happy I got to see this documentary at Hot Docs 2025 and talk to these filmmakers.
They’re Here @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Friday, May 16, 2026 at 1:00 pm (EST)
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