Special Sneak Preview
This special one-night-only sneak preview, in advance of the film’s national theatrical release, is co-presented by Museum of Sex Miami in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition “Utopia: Three Centuries of Sexuality in American Cults and Communes” curated by Jodi Wille, opening May 7.
Film followed by a Q&A featuring Director Jodi Wille, Executive Producer Robert Ganger, and Unarians Kevin and Tracey Kennedy, moderated by Tallahassee Film Festival Director Chris Faupel.
The hard-to-believe but one-hundred percent true story of the Unarius Academy of Science —an extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school and self-healing community founded in El Cajon, California in the 1970s. Under the outlandish direction of its charismatic leader Ruth E. Norman, known to followers as “Archangel Uriel,” Unarius evolved from a fringe spiritual movement into a wildly prolific public access television staple of the 1980s. Director Jodi Wille (The Source Family) brings this singular American story to the screen with the same affectionate, wide-eyed fascination the subject demands.
Jodi Wille is a filmmaker, curator, and book publisher known for her in-depth work exploring American subcultures and visionary artists. She directed and produced the acclaimed documentary THE SOURCE FAMILY (2013), which world-premiered in competition at SXSW Film Festival and had a 60-city theatrical run. Welcome Space Brothers is her second feature documentary. Wille is an award-winning book publisher and author who recently released the coffee table book FAMILY: THE SOURCE FAMILY SCRAPBOOK (Sacred Bones/Otherworld). She has curated national museum and gallery exhibitions internationally featuring the art and films of outsider artists and alternative spiritual communities. She recently curated a major exhibition at the Museum of Sex, New York City, titled “Utopia Now! Three Centuries of Sexuality in American Cults and Communes. The exhibition has been lauded as “a force majeure on multiple fronts” by Artforum. The New York exhibition ran October 10, 2025 through April 2026 and is traveling to Museum of Sex Miami to open May 7, 2026 and run through November 30. She has been presenting the films and artwork of The Unarius Academy of Science at museums, galleries, international film festivals and cinematheques since 2014 and has been actively documenting them since 2014.
| Country: | U.S. |
| Release Year: | 2023 |
| Runtime: | 101 |
| Director: | Jodi Wille |
| Rating: | Not Rated |
| Language: | English |
| Format: | DCP |
– Alan Ng, Film Threat
