Recommended ages 11+
When Itsy’s family moves from the city to the middle of nowhere Utah, her life seems pretty much over until she meets her space-obsessed neighbor, Calvin, aka the school oddball. An aspiring journalist, Itsy’s curiosity is sparked by the amateur astronaut. Following this excellent lead for a story that just might get her a summer internship in NYC, Itsy soon uncovers the ‘why’ behind the teen’s single-minded focus. Calvin is closely tracking the next arrival of Jesper’s Comet because the last time it came…aliens abducted his parents. Both outsiders following their dreams, Itsy and Calvin head out on an adventure in search of the truth. What happens on the comet’s tail is stranger than either of them could have imagined. Inspired by classic Spielberg but set in the 2020s, Aliens is a heart-warming sci-fi coming-of-age drama (think Stranger Things, but way less scary) fresh from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s Kids section. –Deb Girdwood
Director Biography
Working in the industry for the last decade, Jake Van Wagoner is a Utah-based filmmaker, who writes and directs and often appears in his own productions. His credits include: Christmas Time (2017) and the TV sketch show Studio C.