Wake up and question reality, he says Filmmaker shows his No One's Watching: An Alien Abductee's Story at library
By Kate Mammolito
September 29, 2006 | 09:56 AM Jeremy Vaeni is just a normal Earthling, trying to make a buck as a columnist at UFO Magazine while living in Queens, but there's just one tiny difference between him and the rest of the world: He believes he's been abducted by aliens for years, and has documented his life's story in a film titled No One's Watching: An Alien Abductee's Story. It was shown September 8 in Centereach as part of the Middle Country Library's film series. The "very low" budget — $500 — documentary premiered first at Manhattan's Two Boots Pioneer Theater in March, before the Centereach screening before about 30 audience members from age 15 to 65, ranging from Gothically dressed teenagers to 20-something science nerds. In what the library called a "unique telling that forgoes the usual New Age abstractions and dares to have a sense of humor," Vaeni documented his everyday rituals of life, and later explained the film's theme to be: "The stuff that is real is fake and the stuff that is fake is real." He said, "If I were looking at this, I would be skeptical too," referring to an audience member's question as to why he didn't really try to prove his story in the film. "I just wanted to focus on waking people up and make them question what reality's about." Vaeni found a way to bring this theme to life by first filming "the love of his life," Jenny, and showing the wonderful relationship they shared. Halfway through the film though, he breaks up with her, only to reveal to the audience that it was all scripted, and he actually paid an actress to play the role. "What people think is important is not," he said. Though Vaeni briefly discussed his "abduction" experiences throughout the film, the last occurring in October of 2001, he remained modest about the outlandish idea and said, "I don't really feel like I've been chosen, like I'm special — I think it's just a pool of people they're doing experiments on, and I happen to just be one of them." He said his first experience occurred at the age of 13, when he saw a UFO. Then at 15, a creature that "looked like they do on TV" walked into his room "babbling, and stood around the bed," he said. Ever since, he's experienced things like hearing a large group of people talking when no one's around, and "having periods of visions of stupid things like the curb on a sidewalk," Vaeni said, "where I couldn't move my eyes and couldn't change the location of what I was staring at." Though he labeled himself "a very imaginative person with vivid dreams," Vaeni assured the audience that these experiences were different, explaining that aliens implant in people a "screen" memory of something far less intense than the actual abduction, so it's easier for a human to deal with. Even so, he said he usually knows when it's happening, and admitted that "it's absolutely horrifying" — especially the first time. Along his film journey to validate these lifelong alien interactions, Vaeni visits his parents in Massachusetts, and speaks to them in interviews that prove to be quite comical, considering that their sugarcoated reactions all lead to disbelief of their son's obsession. His mother, Mary, who remained skeptical throughout, said she didn't believe her son was abducted, and couldn't believe he still did. When Vaeni brought up the night she saw a UFO while driving, she said, "I hadn't thought about that in a while," but still shook her head in disbelief. His father, Edwin, who claimed to have seen alien-like creatures riding bicycles one night, said Vaeni "always had a thing for being from another planet," and thought his son used abductions to "work through" some other type of abuse experienced as a kid, but didn't say to what he might be referring. Halfway through the film, Vaeni travels to Nevada to meet friends and a nondenominational "priest," Mark Olsen, who claims to have been abducted by aliens as well. Olsen gives Vaeni scientific lessons, revealing "alien scars" behind both his and his brother's ears, and together they all travel to a cliff, sit in lawn chairs, watch for UFO sightings, drink beer and wait to catch just a glimpse of something on film. Because nothing happens to them, Vaeni once again referred to the film's theme, questioning reality, alien encounters and just how much human beings will believe if there's no evidence. The documentary also shows a new "spiritual presence" in Vaeni's life, which he himself has a hard time explaining. Once he shuts down his brain, Vaeni claims, an "eastern, tai chi, yoga kind of thing," takes over his body, and makes him do movements, which he's caught on film in both his kitchen and in a Massachusetts field, using his mother's tai chi sword from one of her classes. "It's not me doing this — it has a personality of its own," he said. "It's something new and accessible to people — but it's mind boggling, and it doesn't make sense." For his critics, Vaeni, who's also written a book called I Know Why the Aliens Don't Land!, said the entertainment aspect is much more important to him than proving his story to audiences. "What proof could I really have?" he asked. "We are very stuck being logical beings, so most of us see it as irrational." When writing the book, he said, "I feel like we all know the alien abductee stories, so I wanted to concentrate more on the human elements of it," adding, "For the most part, my life is boring like everyone else's, but I guess it's weird being me because I walk between two worlds." As for the reason these abductions occur, Vaeni remained stumped after being asked in a question-and-answer section following the film, but said, "It feels like some sort of enlightenment process that will bring people to 'oneness,'" adding, "It's not a question of who they are — that doesn't matter. It's the fact that once you wake up to the oneness, you are one, and you have to tell others. We have the irrational." When writing the book, he said, "I feel like we all know the alien abductee stories, so I wanted to concentrate more on the human elements of it," adding, "For the most part, my life is boring like everyone else's, but I guess it's weird being me because I walk between two worlds."