For more than six decades, Gentry Lee has been asking the question that drives planetary science: Are we alone? As chief engineer for planetary exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lee has worked on the Viking and Galileo missions, played a key role in sending rovers to Mars, co-created the Cosmos television series with Carl Sagan, and co-authored multiple novels with Arthur C. Clarke. Now 83, he’s the sole subject of Starman, a new documentary from Oscar-nominated director Robert Stone (Radio Bikini, Chasing the Moon).
The film, which premiered at SXSW in 2025 and opened in theaters on February 6, is less a conventional science documentary than an extended conversation with a man who has spent his career at the intersection of real space exploration and the imagination it inspires.
What makes Starman particularly compelling is Lee’s refusal to oversimplify. As he puts it in the film, referring to the Viking mission’s ambiguous results: “We did NOT prepare for ambiguity!” That comfort with uncertainty runs through the entire documentary. Lee is energized by the questions he can’t answer after 60 years in the field. He’s enthusiastic about the possibility that evidence of life elsewhere in the universe might still be found, precisely because it hasn’t been found yet.
The film also features archival appearances by Sagan, Clarke, Ray Bradbury, and astrobiologist Frank Drake, alongside footage from science fiction touchstones like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Arrival.
Lee is candid about what he sees as a logical fallacy in current enthusiasm for Mars colonization: the idea that humanity can escape the problems we’ve created on Earth without understanding how we created them. As the Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg notes, it’s “a documentary that won’t be for everybody but will probably be subtly moving for some people.” Our guess is that Techers will be among those moved.
Upcoming Screenings with Q&A with Lee and director Robert Stone:
Los Angeles, CA: Laemmle Glendale Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Friday, February 13 — 7:40 p.m.
Saturday, February 14 — 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 14 — 7:40 p.m.
Palo Alto, CA: Alamo Drafthouse Mountain View Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Friday, February 20 — 4:15 p.m. (afterparty to follow at Dumbots, upstairs at the Alamo Drafthouse)
Washington, D.C.: The Avalon Theatre Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Wednesday, February 11 — 7:30 p.m.
Seattle, WA: SIFF Film Center Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Sunday, February 15 — Time TBA
Dallas, TX: The Texas Theatre Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Tuesday, February 17 — 7:00 p.m.
Austin, TX: AFS Cinema Q&A with Gentry Lee
Wednesday, February 18 — 7:00 p.m.
Houston, TX: The River Oaks Theatre Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Thursday, February 19 — 7:15 p.m.
Denver, CO: Sie FilmCenter Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Saturday, February 21 — 3:00 p.m.
Sedona, AZ: Sedona Film Festival Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Thursday, February 26 — Time TBA
Boston, MA: Coolidge Corner Theatre Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Sunday, March 1 — 2:00 p.m.
Chicago, IL: Music Box Theatre Q&A with Robert Stone and Gentry Lee
Monday, March 2 — 7:00 p.m.
Visit the film’s website for tickets and additional screening information.