The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence is frequently portrayed as a technical challenge requiring vast resources, fields of bristling antennae, and a NASA-sized team of (invariably) American ‘experts’.

Bringing SETI to the big screen has not been cheap, the adaptation of Carl Sagan’s Contact cost $90 million.

So the idea that a SETI-themed movie could largely be filmed in a garage in Birmingham (UK), with a cast of three, a crew of three, and all for less than the price of a second-hand car, is surely stretching the imagination.

COSMOS

But that’s exactly what film-making brothers Elliot and Zander Weaver did with their 2019 movie, COSMOS. Eschewing the tortuous route of mainstream film development, they resorted to a guerrilla filming campaign that took five years to complete.

Their script envisioned a trio of amateur astronomers (sporting their Astro-Nut society baseball caps) parking in a woodland area, their cramped estate car crammed with a Heath Robinson array of laptops and sundry equipment, listening to the universe.

Personal tensions in the claustrophobic confines of the vehicle begin to surface when… something happens… Their tiny umbrella-like dishes detect a signal on the 1420 megahertz wavelength, a long-favoured SETI frequency. But when they contact colleagues with access to a larger telescope, the signal isn’t verified. And then disappears.

CONTACT?

Have they made Contact? Do they even have enough battery power to record their nebulous evidence? And if they have made Contact, what are they going to do about it?

I am not going to spoil the rest of the plot, save to say that the climax of the film is genuinely awe-inspiring, and the camaraderie of the intrepid team truly engaging.

From the SETI perspective, it offers the tantalising prospect that, as in all other fields of astronomy, dedicated amateurs can make a difference. That small can be beautiful. And that passion and enthusiasm are an unstoppable driving force.

The dedicated amateurs of COSMOS are not presented as dysfunctional nerds, but real people simply awestruck by the star-filled skies above. And that burning question: Are we alone?

AMATEUR SETI

If you ever find yourself frustrated at the progress of SETI, here is an inspirational antidote. Existing initiatives such as SETI@home and the SETI League offer various ways that enthusiasts and the wider public can become involved in the search and make a difference. We must do more to encourage this.

I am struck by the similarity of the COSMOS team with their real-life counterparts in the EAAROCIBO SETI UK project being planned by EAARO, the East Anglia Astrophysical Research organisation – equally dedicated volunteers. You can be part their effort by joining and/or donating to the society.

The COSMOS website provides links to where the movie can be streamed and it’s also available on DVD from Amazon and other retailers. The marvellous cast is Tom England, Joshua Ford and Arjun Singh Panam, who also took on production crew roles when filming.

COSMOS is a low-budget movie with the big production values of Spielberg, and a huge heart.

I can’t recommend it enough. Now where’s my baseball cap?

John Keeling is a Content Provider & Curator for the EAAROcibo SETI UK Facebook page – please drop in, give your thoughts and SHARE.