SXSW documentary 'The Age of Disclosure' features 34 military and intelligence veterans with direct UAP knowledge

When 34 military and intelligence veterans walked into a premiere screening at South by Southwest in March 2025, they carried with them decades of accumulated experience across the highest levels of government. The documentary "The Age of Disclosure" presented their firsthand accounts of encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena—what the military now officially calls UAPs—in direct contradiction to the decades-long official position that there was nothing to see.

The claim itself wasn't entirely new. For years, former military pilots, intelligence officers, and defense officials had come forward with fragmented testimonies about UAP encounters. What made this documentary significant was the concentration of credible witnesses and the timing: it arrived on the heels of Congressional hearings that had finally given these accounts a legitimate platform. The film synthesized what individual whistleblowers had been saying separately into a coordinated narrative about systematic government knowledge and concealment.

The government's response came quickly and characteristically dismissive. Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, who had served as director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office—the government's official UAP investigation arm—publicly attributed the claims to "persistent conspiratorial leanings held by people at the highest levels of government." Kirkpatrick's statement was notable not for what it said, but for what it revealed: the Pentagon's chief UAP official was essentially accusing his own government colleagues of conspiratorial thinking rather than engaging with the substance of their claims.

What validates this claim—or at least puts it firmly in the "not debunked" category—is the established credibility of the witnesses themselves. These weren't anonymous sources or conspiracy enthusiasts. The 34 included individuals with Top Secret clearances, combat experience, and institutional positions that required extraordinary vetting. Congressional records already documented previous testimony from similar witnesses describing structured encounters with objects exhibiting flight characteristics inconsistent with known technology.