DANCES WITH FILMS 2025 REVIEW! You never know what will come at you from behind the sky in the compelling desert drama Star People, the excellent narrative feature debut by writer/director Adam Finberg. Back in the late 90s, during a hot night in Phoenix, hundreds of people reported seeing unexplained lights in the sky. On that night, young Claire (Kali Marsh) was hiding outside in her yard with her little brother, Taylor (Lucien Krawczyk), while their parents fought again inside. Claire remembers the lights but doesn’t remember what happened to her that night.
As an adult, Claire (Kat Cunning) chases UFOs across the desert mega-city of Phoenix, spending her nights searching the sky with her high-powered cameras. She’s currently hooking up with Justin (Connor Paolo), a cute influencer with a flying saucer obsession, during a heat wave that’s topping 120 degrees every day. After being estranged from her brother, turned dope fiend, Taylor (McCabe Slye), she gets a call from him in a hospital, where he’s recovering from a heroin overdose.
“Claire remembers the lights but doesn’t remember what happened to her that night.”
Taylor has nothing to his name except the track marks on his arms and begs Claire for a place to stay. However, Claire and Justin are about to go on a UFO hunt, as she has been hired by Felix (Bradley Fisher) to investigate the mysterious light formations that have started appearing at night. She isn’t about to let a junkie loose in her apartment alone, so Taylor is dragged along with them to an empty house out in the middle of the desert.
They soon find they are not alone, as they encounter Ricardo (Eddie Martinez), a refugee hiding in a room with his daughter, Gabby (Adriana Auna Martinez), who is close to death from the relentless heat. What follows isn’t a typical alien encounter movie, but rather a tense, human survival drama driven by character and atmosphere.
"…The richness of the material is matched by the sophistication of the performances"
