Private Project

unidentified

From 1947 to 1969, the U.S. Air Force carried out a systematic study of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings, codenamed “Project Blue Book.” Thousands of reports from American and European citizens were recorded during those years; more than 700 cases remained “unidentified.” The film reuses original documents from the now-declassified project, superimposing them over family footage from the same period. In the encounter between the domestic and the scientific, the familiar and the alien, a hidden portrait emerges of a nation haunted by its own astronomical obsessions.

  • Francesco Zanatta
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2025
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Francesco Zanatta

Francesco Zanatta (Italy, 1999) is a visual artist working with video. His practice explores documentary forms and found footage sourced from the internet. His film "viva la notte" was selected for the competition at the Pesaro Film Festival - Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema in 2023.

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Director Statement

The Project Blue Book archive contains fascinating stories that verge on science fiction, accounts of quiet, ordinary lives suddenly disrupted by strange and seemingly inexplicable events. These narratives are steeped in mystery, constantly at odds with the U.S. Air Force’s efforts to provide scientific and objective explanations. What defies interpretation is simply labeled “unidentified.”
In the film, official documents are stripped of the clarity and linearity that would otherwise make them legible. Without a clear or unified resolution, the event remains unexplained, yet life goes on, as if nothing ever happened.