Jodi Wille on Welcome Space Brothers | Public Record

On Saturday, June 20, Public Record and 850 W Lincoln present a special screening of Welcome Space Brothers** and The Arrival.** Our showcase is Welcome Space Brothers, a new film by director Jodi Wille (The Source Family), which will be followed by an on-stage Q&A conducted by Jason P. Woodbury with Wille and members of the Unarius Academy of Science. Following that conversation and podcast recording, we’ll tune into a film created by the Unariuns themselves, *The Arrival,*a visionary piece of psychodramatic art.

Tickets are available now. Doors will open at 4 PM for refreshments and merch; our screening will commence at 4:30 PM.

Ahead of the event, Wille joined PR to discuss this one of a kind film, and the creative spirituality of Unarius. You can download this zine as a PDF and share it with a friend.

Wille on understanding the lineage of Unarius:

“We’re often taught to view these unusual groups through corporate media and pop culture as oddities, wrapped up in a cult of personality. [The Unariuns] definitely had their drama—as every group does—but a number of them were able to transform their lives meaningfully with these alternative ideas that are very different from ideas that we get from major religions or consumer culture.”

The Unarius Academy of Science was led by Ruth Norman, who proclaimed herself The Archangel Uriel. Wille says:

“She was an autodidact and knew how to market things already, but her experience landing on all of these major network shows showed her the power of media. It inspired her to create a DIY film studio with these very talented students.”

In the 1990s, Unariun public access broadcasts brought the group into people’s homes via the TV. It didn’t take long for people to take notice.

“People would record them in different cities and then they would trade tapes with each other. Tapes were like rare jewels back then. For pop culture connoisseurs, Unarius was essential to know about. In the ‘90s, I saw them as a far out group who seemed benign but were kooks. I was initially part of that cultural understanding of them in the ’90s, forged through transgressive underground culture.”

Wille says that in order to tap into the Unariun mindset, you need to understand art as a part of the healing process:

They’re like a folk healing community, kind of like AA is in some ways, where it’s a collective effort of people coming together to address their personal problems. That’s been the greatest privilege, to let the Unariuns speak for themselves. We see that the story of Unarius is far richer, far weirder and more beautiful than we could possibly imagine.”