Not too long ago, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams boarded a Boeing Starliner. Their destination? The International Space Station. In another hit to Boeing’s reputation, the world would be rocked with frightening news. Helium leaks and thruster issues would cause Wilmore and Williams an unexpected extension to their space journey. These two intrepid explorers will now be forced to spend the next [roughly] five months in space due to Boeing’s constant failures at every turn. Adding salt to the wound, Elon Musk and SpaceX have come to the rescue. A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will come to the rescue in February 2025 to escort Wilmore and Williams safely back to solid ground.
A Strange Sound From Space
As if things couldn’t get worse, or more weird, the crew of the Starliner would report back to base with some troubling information: a mysterious sound. On August 31, 2024, Butch Wilmore reached out to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center. Wilmore reported this strange sound, and it took the internet by storm. The sound Wilmore played for Mission Control was a haunting sonar-like sound. It still seems that the origin of this sound is unidentified, but it should be noted Wilmore seemed relatively unfazed throughout this whole correspondence.
Hearing this sound made me automatically think of two things. Firstly, it made me lament the passing of Art Bell. Just picture how much fun a Coast to Coast or Dreamland broadcast of this would be! The broadcast would probably start with Linda Moulton Howe interviewing one of her experts in this field and playing the interview off of a terrible-sounding tape recorder. Art would likely use ABBA’s hit song ‘SOS’ for his bumper music. And you just know the wild card line phone calls would be off the chain! Secondly, this event made me think of one of my favorite films, The Antares Paradox.
Two years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch The Antares Paradox at Fantastic Fest, and I was left breathless. Astrophysicist Alexandra Baeza (Andrea Trepat) is stuck on the overnight shift at the EART Observatory. Alexandra is set to have a life-changing night. Her father is dying in the hospital, they are about to experience the storm of the century, and EART has just received a signal from another planet that, if authenticated, could change the course of history.
The Antares Paradox is a chamber piece like never before. It’s a cosmic gumbo of adrenaline and emotion. Alexandra is a tenacious scientist who wants nothing more than to be a part of something bigger than herself. The film’s singular set lends to the claustrophobic nature of Alexandra’s dilemma. It’s interesting to look at her predicament from the outside. When faced with the idea of life beyond our solar system, she stays in a cramped room full of computers. Her only communication with the outside world is via telephone. One of the most intriguing questions Alexandra is faced with at the beginning of the film, is if a genie granted her the opportunity to cure cancer or give us evidence of extraterrestrials, which one would she choose? It’s the perfect Chekov’s gun to set up her entire character arc.
When Will The Antares Paradox Get Released?
This all brings me to the point I really wanted to talk about. While the relationship between the Boeing Starliner and The Antares Paradox is tangential, it made me think long and hard about how the smallest things make me think of this movie. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, I google The Antares Paradox once a week to see if there is any new information regarding, at the least, a VOD release. (And I’m really not exaggerating when I say I have a weekly calendar notification to remind me to google it.)
And that’s where the one frustration of film festivals comes in. The number of films I’ve seen at festivals that quickly die out and don’t go on to have a release of any kind is staggering. Even having your film run at some of the biggest festivals doesn’t necessarily mean it’s getting released for streaming or theatrical release. A film like The Antares Paradox is not only an overwhelmingly beautiful film, but it’s also poignant.
In the age of modern disclosure, a film like The Antares Paradox hits the nail on the head. People like Lue Elizondo, George Knapp, Jeremy Corbell, Brandon Fugal, and many others, probably feel like they’re the Alexandra Baeza of disclosure–stopping at nothing to get the truth out there. However, many of these people, especially Lue Elizondo, have ulterior motives that revolve around financial gain rather than disseminating the truth. Was all this just a thinly veiled excuse for me to talk about The Antares Paradox or throw a dig at Lue Elizondo? Maybe. What I think the real takeaway should be is twofold: that sonar-sounding thing aboard the Boeing Starliner is odd and creepy, and it’s a damn shame there isn’t a physical release of The Antares Paradox.