Created by local filmmaker, debuts on History Television Tuesday

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UFOs: The Secret History, the first documentary film of its kind by Swansea area resident David Cherniack, will make its world debut on History Television, Tuesday, as part of the network's week-long ode to the phenomenon, which coincides with the 61st anniversary of the 1947 incident in Roswell that attracted international attention.

Unlike any other UFO documentary, it does not attempt to examine whether or not UFOs are extra-terrestrial. Rather, it begins with the principle that it is precisely the absence of definitive proof that has enabled the phenomenon to become a kind of Rorschach inkblot on which society has projected its hopes and fears over the past six decades, providing insight into the early years of the 21st century.

"I'm very proud of it," said Cherniack, reflecting on his work in an interview with The Villager at his home studio, not far from Ellis Avenue and The Queensway. "It's very unique. No one has done anything remotely like this. No one has had the time and the resources to devote to it."

Although the film was a four-year, technically-gruelling, long and very involved process - Cherniack took on everything, but the music and 3-D graphics himself. The majority was filmed over a four-month stretch. The award-winning filmmaker logged 18,000 miles across North America, stopping in five Canadian provinces and 38 U.S. states in a rented 31-foot RV visiting locations where UFOs were sighted and interviewing experts.

"My favourite part of the process is the shooting. Why? Because I get to know people. I've been in post-production for a year-and-a-half. I get out twice (a week) to go to Thai Chi."

There are very few people who know the history of UFOs and those in the know are delighted about the film because now they have something to show those who don't know, who are only familiar with the mythology, Cherniack said. Who better than he, the self-described boy astronomer, to tell the story, he says in the film.

"I was fascinated that there was a whole universe out there you could only see at night," he said. "When I was 13, I had a UFO sighting. I was home for lunch - I had heard reports of flying saucers seen over Winnipeg."

While other kids hid terrified under their beds, Cherniack eagerly scanned the clear blue sky. Above the playing field he spotted it: a tiny red dot. It seemed really high up, he recalled. Watching it for five to 10 minutes, it didn't move.

"In the Winnipeg sky for something not to move, it gave me pause for thought," said Cherniack, who said the province is nicknamed Windypeg in the summer and Winterpeg in the winter. "It promoted my interest in flying saucers. I studied it for a few years as an adolescent until I discovered girls. I'd come to the conclusion that we were probably being visited, but I wasn't going to know anything further. They weren't saying anything."

It's a subject that Cherniack has dipped in and out of over the years. In the mid-80s, he attended a UFO network convention in Michigan where he met Bud Hopkins, the man who developed the theory behind UFO abduction. Four years ago, he thought about a film he could do for the History network. When he pitched the history of UFOs, the executive producer was keen because he was familiar with Cherniack's work and confident he'd do a great job.

With an undergraduate degree in physics, the veteran documentary filmmaker approached the phenomenon from a scientist's point of view.

"There is no definitive proof (of UFOs)," he said, "but there's a lot of compelling reports, competent observers."

Cherniack figured the film would be at least a two to three year process. To bring himself up to speed, he researched the subject for a year. He was still piecing information together during filming.

"I like to do films that challenge the notion of reality," he said.

Before arriving in Toronto to pursue a career in film, he attended the University of Manitoba, he travelled the world, lived in a cave in Crete, and eventually decided to study film at the renowned Prague Film Academy, arriving there just prior to the 1968 events now known as Prague Spring. Four years later he returned to Canada and became one of the founders of the Winnipeg Film Group, later moving to Toronto, and setting up house in the west end. His career boasts 60 documentaries. After stints on such programs as The Nature of Things and Man Alive, he returned to the topic that had intrigued him since childhood, making two films about UFOs and extra-terrestrials for the CBC.

UFOs: The Secret History premiers on History Television Tuesday, July 15 at 8 p.m.