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As Steven Spielberg's new sci-fi thriller "Disclosure Day" dominates the box office, one longtime UFO investigator says the film mirrors reality more than fiction.
Joshua Golembeske, a documentary filmmaker and former MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) field investigator, told Fox News Digital that the film’s deep-state cover-up premise directly echoes actual Capitol Hill whistleblower testimony on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).
For Golembeske, the host of "Cosmic Disclosure" on Gaia.com, the long-standing stigma surrounding UFOs is finally lifting. He was pleasantly surprised to see Spielberg's film reflect real whistleblower accounts and praised the filmmaker for portraying extraterrestrials as benevolent rather than threatening.
"[He] did the right thing, because what he did was based it off the real events, the real information, not that fear that's propagated by the media," he said.
Steven Spielberg said decades of UFO reports, documentaries and testimony from military and government officials convinced him to take believers seriously, despite never having seen a UFO himself. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
STEVEN SPIELBERG ADMITS HE'S BEEN CONVERTED ON UFOS, SAYS HE BELIEVES THE BELIEVERS
He noted scenes in the film that show childhood encounters as they are documented in UFO literature, where extraterrestrials use "screen memories" to disguise themselves as ordinary animals like owls or deer.
"So if a kid remembers a really weird experience, they're going to remember, 'Why was there owls in my room and deer?' And then, 'I was brought out to the woods and into a house that seemed like a fairy tale with lights everywhere,'" Golembeske said. "Well, what's actually going on is it was ETs in your room escorting you out to a UFO or spacecraft somewhere in the forest. This sounds so unbelievable, but it's been reported for decades and decades, and this film is trying to shine a light on it."
Spielberg revealed in a recent interview that he has been "converted" on the topic of UFOs and now believes "the believers." His inspiration for "Disclosure Day" reportedly stems from a deep dive into documentaries and recent congressional testimonies, where high-ranking military and intelligence officials have come forward.
The film's release comes at a time when UAPs and allegations of a government cover-up are making real-world headlines. Last week, Golembeske traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a high-profile press conference on Capitol Hill regarding the phenomenon.
David Grusch, a whistleblower and former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force at the Department of Defense, speaks during a news conference on unidentified anomalous phenomena outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 2026. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
At that event, UAP whistleblower and former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch accused intelligence agencies of hiding billions of dollars in secret government spending from Congress to conceal their knowledge of UAPs and diverse alien species.
Golembeske said the main takeaway from Grusch's testimony is that UAPs are "real," "the government has been covering them up for a long time," whistleblowers are being "threatened," and multiple types of alien species exist.
"I thought that was unbelievably shocking that David Grusch in front of the world, with Congress behind him, admitted that the U.S. government knows that non-human intelligence is real, and there's a range of them, and we're dealing with what has been a long-standing cover-up," Golembeske said.
The hearing drew a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, including Reps. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who called for greater transparency, accountability, and legal immunity for whistleblowers.
UFO whistleblower David Grusch claims "billions" in taxpayer funding are going to secret UAP programs. (Eric Lee/Reuters:Department of War)
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Burlison said lawmakers have continued pressing agencies and defense contractors for records they believe remain classified despite recent disclosure efforts.
Last September, Burlison made headlines after releasing video of MQ-9 drone footage from an alleged October 2024 UAP incident off the coast of Yemen, which he said was delivered to his office through a "Tom Clancy-style dead drop."
The June briefing comes weeks after the Trump administration released a major tranche of previously classified UAP records, including military reports, sensor data, and witness accounts that had long remained hidden from public view. Lawmakers and disclosure advocates have pointed to those releases as evidence the government is becoming more transparent about UAP investigations, while arguing that significant amounts of information remain highly classified.
For Golembeske, a real "disclosure day" — where the government admits to the public that humanity is not alone in the universe — would be earth-shattering.
Documentary filmmaker Joshua Golembeske praises Steven Spielberg’s "Disclosure Day" for what he says is its realistic portrayal of benevolent extraterrestrial encounters. (Gaia.com)
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According to Golembeske, whistleblowers allege the government has hidden reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology that could change the world forever, including free energy devices with limitless energy and breakthrough medical systems. He argued this knowledge remains classified because it would disrupt socio-economics across the globe.
"Obviously, the oil industries and energy industries aren't going to like a free energy device coming out, plus it could be weaponized," he claimed.
However, he believes true disclosure would expand human consciousness, an idea he says is hinted at in Spielberg's film.
"They seem to [be] pulling us along with sightings and contact experiences to expand our awareness," Golembeske said, pointing to literature by the late Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack, who argues that regular contact with ETs is the quickest way to "enlightenment."
Golembeske said that ultimately, this knowledge would force people to question human origins and the nature of the universe.
"A simple UFO sighting will change someone's life forever," he said.
Fox News' Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Kristine Parks is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Read more.
