WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS (2023)

In theaters this summer and fall 2026. Streaming in late September 2026.

Theatrical screening dates and more at welcomespacebrothers.com

WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS dives into the extraordinary true story of the Unarius Academy of Science, an extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school founded in El Cajon in the 1970s. Led by the dazzlingly outlandish Ruth E. Norman—revered as "Archangel Uriel"—Unarius evolved into a wildly inventive public-access television phenomenon, where unbridled spiritual imagination became a tool for self-healing, creating films that appeared to be elaborately campy space epics yet were, at their core, sincere spiritual psychodramas exploring perceived past-life traumas. From The Source Family director Jodi Wille comes another mind-expanding voyage into the wild frontiers of American belief, bringing her singular blend of clear-eyed empathy, humor, and emotional insight to one of the country's most enigmatic outsider communities. Executive producers include Elijah Wood, Moby, and Oscar-winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Director: Jodi Wille (The Source Family)

Producer: Caryn Capotosto (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Little Richard: I Am Everything)

Editors: Dava Whisenat, Tyler Hubby, Bradford Thomason, Jennifer Tiexiera, Alex Bohs, Nyneve Minnear, John Stavas

Exec. Producers: SpectreVision (Lawrence Ingle, Daniel Noah & Elijah Wood), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Thalia Mavros (The Front), Rob Ganger, XTR (Bryn Mooser, Kathryn Everett), Diorama Media (Matt Perniciaro), Josh Braun (Submarine).

Critical Praise

Film Threat- “If I didn’t know Jodi Wille’s film, Welcome Space Brothers, was a documentary, I’d swear it was a WTF, insane, sci-fi tale of weirdness. The story of Ruth is fascinating….”

Artillery - FILM: Welcome Space Brothers Review “As with (Wille’s) previous film The Source Family…she remains steadfastly non-judgemental about the unconventional spiritual utopian communitarianism that is so often dismissed as delusional hippy bullshit. Where corporate stooge David Letterman saw Uriel as one zany kook among an endless stream of “talent,” Wille accepts her as a significant historical figure—a flawed but visionary creative force for good in the world, deserving of our respect.

Nova Religio -  Review “...absolutely riveting…we see a host of mid-twentieth-century Americans feeling dislocated and lost...craving a sort of creativity, acceptance, and love…Ruth Norman, with her gaudy wigs, visions of intergalactic confederations, and absolute confidence that the few dozen people she gathered around herself could produce art so powerful it would change the world, gave it to them." 

Deadline- “EP (Elijah) Wood says, “As our first entry into the documentary space, Welcome Space Brothers has all the qualities we look for in a film: compelling characters, stunning music and visuals and incredible heart. At a time when we humans are examining our relationship to the UFO phenomenon, its hopeful message is as welcome as the Space Brothers themselves.” 

THE SOURCE FAMILY (2012)

The Source Family was a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. Their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals and the unconventional behavior of their spiritual leader, Father Yod, caused controversy with local authorities. More >>

Directors: Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos

Critical Praise

Wall Street Journal - “…a strange and beautiful parable about the rise, fall and surprisingly influential afterlife of a '60s love cult.” – Steve Dollar

Boston Globe - “...Artfully executed and engrossing. More than just a footnote to a wayward period of cultural history, “The Source Family” portrays an American type, the transcendent charlatan, a latter-day Gatsby, not of material riches but of the soul.” - Peter Keough

USA Today “...managed to blow my mind.” –Whitney Matheson

New York Times - “Unearthing a decent sample of these former members, as well as a wealth of archival film and photographs, the directors elicit testimony that’s diversely sharp, spacey, nostalgic and heartbreaking.” – Jeanette Catsoulis

Time Out NY - “This magnetic pop-history memorial has everything: free sex, celebrity, psychedelic rock, polygamy and beyond.” – Michael Atkinson,

T: New York Times Style Magazine - "Such a pure expression of an archetypal 1970s psychedelic subculture that it feels like an ornate and elaborate invention.” – Jenny Nichols

Seattle Weekly - “We know how this story is supposed to end, and yet we’re wrong about that…an oddly affirmative and sympathetic portrait of the disciples, if not the guru, during an era when many were casting about for alternative forms of spirituality.” – Brian Miller

Variety “…Fascinating…”

Indiewire - The film wisely refuses to judge these individuals, or their leader, for their sins and provocations; it’s open minded enough to take their talk of spiritual liberation at face value, to place it within the context of its time, and to have a lot of fun along the way.”—Brandon Harris

“We Are Not Alone” (2016, 11 mins.)

“We Are Not Alone” is a glimpse of the epic story of Unarius and the group’s exuberant, radically benevolent leader Ruth E. Norman, aka Archangel Uriel. Uriel took her ambitious collective of students on a quest to explore the mysteries of the universe and achieve personal transformation by producing a film library of wildly imaginative psychodramas. Prized by collectors for years, they are some of the most mind-blowing examples of outsider cinema.