Parity Pipeline

Genre

Synopsis

WELCOME TO ROSWELL is a mockumentary that explores the intersection of gender identity and extraterrestrial encounters, set in the kitschy, conservative town of Roswell, New Mexico. After 20 years away, documentarian Miguel Flores is visiting his father’s conservative hometown of Roswell to come out as transgender to his family, and film their reactions and the conversations that follow. On the drive to Roswell, Miguel and his camera operator/girlfriend Elise listen to their favorite sci-fi podcast, “Queer Probe.” The episode guest is Connie Smith, a UFO Encounter Specialist and a Truth Or Consequences Sci-Fi Book Club Award winning author for her hybrid sci-fi novel, “Phone Homo: An LGB-ET Story.” Connie talks about her conviction that UFOs and extraterrestrials are very real, and that survivors of UFO encounters have a lot to teach us. Elise thinks this is a really good omen since they are on their way to Roswell, where the infamous UFO crash occurred in 1947. She further reveals her fascination and begins to probe Miguel about his family’s experience of the UFO crash. Miguel insists that UFOs are “white people nonsense,” and that his family never spoke of them. When they approach the Welcome to Roswell sign at the edge of town, it’s clear that the town has become a monument to UFO kitsch since his last visit. Miguel’s chagrin is equal to Elise’s delight. Despite his disappointment in the town’s embrace of all things extraterrestrial, Miguel begins to interview family members with delusions of auteurism, fashioning himself as a self-important, phenomenological filmmaker with a revolutionary project. But he soon learns that his small town family are incredibly gender savvy and have only positive responses to his announcement of his gender identity. When he offers to answer any questions without judgment, they respond respectfully with “what are y’all’s pronouns?” and “do you want another Coke?” His coming out is a non-story. A new story emerges… During an interview, Miguel’s cousin Dee and her girlfriend Theresa reveal that they were abducted by aliens as teens in the 1990s, which left them with identical geometric marks on the back of their necks. A visibly shocked Elise reveals she has the same mark, and begins to remember her own abduction. In an ironic mirroring of the kind of invasive, inappropriate questions he expected from his family, Miguel clumsily interviews members of an “encounter survivor support group,” led by Connie Smith. The group members describe being abducted by aliens in New Mexico, and returning with mostly inconsequential special powers, like being able to remember every lyric to a song after hearing it once, and intuiting a person’s astrological sign within minutes of meeting them. Miguel is challenged by the group for his lack of respect and cultural awareness, and Elise, who has been bonding with the other survivors, steps in to begin directing the story. The group members’ powers have been growing in strength, and Elise is ready to uncover the truth. Miguel is demoted to boom operator as he boards a rollercoaster of skepticism and confusion about his own belonging, which culminates in his own chaotic abduction during a visit to an encounter site. In the epilogue, Miguel settles into his new home in Roswell with Elise, surrounded by their BIPOC, queer, and trans community of fellow encounter survivors, proudly revealing his own geometric abduction mark. We are whisked through laughter, music, and conversation at Miguel and Elise’s backyard BBQ, past the “sold” sign in the front yard and up over the rooftops of Roswell, past the Dairy Queen and to the edge of town, and then out further to reveal the Welcome to Roswell sign on a movie screen as credits begin to roll. We pull out even wider to see Miguel, Elise, and all our characters seated at the premiere of the film, laughing and applauding, then fly out of the theater and onto Roswell’s Main Street, hovering above the marquee of the International UFO Museum and Research Center and Gift Shop advertising the World Premiere of WELCOME TO ROSWELL, continuing through the alien head street lamps and campy neon glow of UFO-themed gift shops until we’re back at the Welcome to Roswell sign illuminated at night, continuing up above the sign and into the starry midnight blue of space. This long-form narrative mockumentary project is currently in development.