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Logline

When civil engineers from a distant universe propose destroying all life on Earth in order to extract a rare metal found at our planet’s core, three innocent field agents are sent to gather information about Earthlings and decide our planet’s fate.

Synopsis

RENATA, ANTONIO and FABIOLA seem like all the other 15 year old immigrant teens living in San Rafael’s Canal District. Like the other kids, they play soccer, go to dances, and attend high school. Unlike the other kids, they are actually bio-embedded anthropologists from another planet.

Every day after school, Renata, Antonio, and Fabiola explore their neighborhood in order to collect data about the behavior of Earthlings, which they transmit to their intergalactic station chief by tapping into the electrical grid via an old phone booth. The subjects of the kids’ daily dispatches range from heartfelt biographical profiles of their neighbors, to the strange Earthly concepts of race and gender, to histories of the Gold Rush, the assembly line, and karaoke. As the kids aim their innocent observational lens on aspects of our everyday world, we begin to see our world through fresh eyes.

One day when the kids notice that their station chief is cherry-picking the data they have been collecting, they start to question the true purpose of their mission. Were they sent here as impartial researchers or is their data being used as evidence to justify the ultimate destruction of the planet? When immigration agents unexpectedly arrest Antonio’s grandmother, the kids race to the phone booth to beg their station chief for help. But the phone booth has been removed. Discovering that the only other available access point to the grid is in San Francisco, the kids take off on foot across the Golden Gate Bridge toward the City.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Chris Brown — Writer/Director/Producer
Emmy-award winning filmmaker CHRIS BROWN has directed, produced and/or edited a wide range of features and documentaries. His most recent feature as writer-director, The Other Kids, won 10 awards internationally, was hailed as “Genuine and relevant” by Variety and “Extraordinary” by The San Francisco Examiner. Brown’s directorial breakout feature, Fanny, Annie & Danny (2010) won 16 awards internationally, was declared “An indie masterpiece” by The Huffington Post and a “Critics’ Pick” by The New York Times.

When not directing his own work, Brown is an in-demand editor of features and documentaries. In addition to editing and co-producing Elena Oxman’s debut feature Outerlands (SXSW 2025), Brown edited the forthcoming thriller Fuego (2025), the intimate documentaries Playground (2024), Sylvie Of The Sunshine State (2022), Songs Of Wood & Steel (2022) with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, Cries Of Our Ancestors (2020), the award-winning The Providers (2018), and the PBS favorites We’ve Got The Power (2013), Let Them Eat Dirt (2019), and The Next Frontier (2010), which won an Emmy for Best Documentary. Brown also edited the 2012 SUNDANCE Grand Jury Award – winning documentary A River Changes Course

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Contact

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