The Cote Photo

The Cote Photo (2026)

When an attorney inherits his uncle's collection of UFO research materials, he discovers an ultra-high-resolution photo negative that challenges his perception of reality.

To many investigators, this photo has become known as the best official UFO photo ever made public. This image has endured decades of scrutiny and, if anything, has grown more relevant over time. As governments around the world begin to acknowledge and declassify UFO/UAP encounters, the Cote photo feels less like an anomaly and more like an early glimpse into a much larger, still-unfolding story. It continues to fascinate researchers and the public alike—and raises the possibility that more images like it remain hidden, classified, or yet to be released. With Sergio Loaiza as his guide, attorney Esteban Carranza explores how encounters with the unknown transform identity and belief.

Date of release
2026-09-04
TMDB
10.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 17m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Adam Pillon

Casting

Interesting facts

The Cote Photo is a 2026 American documentary film directed by Adam Pillon and produced by Megan Woomer. The film examines an aerial photograph taken on September 4, 1971 during a government mapping flight over Lake Cote in northern Costa Rica, in which one frame shows a circular or disc-shaped object above the lake. It was released on September 4, 2026, the 55th anniversary of the photograph.

Production

The Cote Photo is the first feature film by Pillon and Woomer, a married filmmaking couple based in Detroit. According to Pillon, the project began after Woomer saw a print of the photograph hanging in a friend's home near Arenal Volcano. Filming took place in Costa Rica, Kansas and New York City.

The film includes an interview with investigative journalist Leslie Kean, a co-author of the 2017 New York Times report on the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. It also features analyst Michael Strickland, a Kansas-based photographer who in 2022 produced a drum scan of Carranza's contact copy of the original negative, in an effort led by Carranza to obtain a high-resolution scan.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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