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By Mayra Marquez

DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR

mmarquez@media.ucla.edu

Crop circles, a phenomenon where sections of farm crop are crushed to create geometric images, have been mystifying scientists, farmers, tourists and the government for many years. They have also caught the attention of Academy Award-nominated director William Gazecki and UCLA graduate Ariane Compagnone.

Gazecki and Compagnone have teamed up to create a documentary called “Crop Circles: Quest for Truth,” which opens at the Landmark Nuart Theater Aug. 23. Shot in Southern England, the film features interviews with those fascinated by crop circles and images of the formations.

“They are really pretty and the people that hang out around the crop circles and in the crop circles are very open-minded and more oriented toward peace and discussion,” Compagnone said.

To the trained eye, crop circles offer more than just aesthetics. Mathematicians and scientists pore over them to study the preciseness of the lines and shapes in these formations.

“The geometry of them is extremely precise in terms of not only the angle and the geometry of the formation, but also how it is situated in reference to the magnetic North and other ancient temples and ancient monuments that are in Southern England,” Gazecki said, referring to places such as Stonehenge.

Although the complexity may be undeniable, leading some to point toward extraterrestrial origins, many still point at man as the creator of crop circles. In fact, shows on the History Channel and the Discovery Channel have shown people making crop circles to prove their human invention. According to Compagnone, some may be man-made but with 300 to 500 appearing every year, many remain unexplained.

“The designs are so intricate,” Compagnone said. “We met some geometrists who spent 5 hours to replicate some of the ones they see on a piece of paper. If you are on the field, on a real site, without an eraser and without all your little compass tools, it takes way, way, way longer. It just doesn’t add up that people make them.”

Compagnone’s work with crop circles goes back to her days as an animation student at UCLA, where her thesis was a visual show based on crop circles. A native of France, she came to UCLA as an undergraduate to study film, and she graduated with a master of fine arts in animation last June.

Compagnone’s other projects include a documentary titled “The Orphans of Duplessis” about Canadian orphans in the ’40s and ’50s who suffered at the hands of the government and the Catholic Church. Her desire to do documentaries was matched when she met Gazecki, who was nominated for an Oscar for his 1997 documentary, “Waco: Rules of Engagement.”

“I’ve always wanted to do film, since I was like 12, and then I ended up meeting William right after I graduated,” Compagnone said. “He did exactly what I’ve always wanted to do: socially-involved documentaries. That was just a blessing.”

Gazecki and Compagnone’s work on real-life crop circles coincides with M. Night Shyamalan’s crop circle flick, “Signs,” about a rural family tormented by fear after crop circles begin appearing on their land. In lieu of their documentary, both Gazecki and Compagnone were invited to an advanced screening of “Signs.”

“I think it’s an okay film. I don’t think they researched crop circles very well,” Gazecki said.

While Hollywood may not always get the facts straight, media exploring the subject of crop circles exposes the public to a controversy that the government may not want out in the open.

“It’s pretty apparent that there is government interest in it, particularly from a security standpoint, because it appears that the crop circles are made using some exotic energy system,” Gazecki said. “We have evidence of high heat that is of a very short duration.”

“I can certainly understand that the military might want to know more about these because anything that can make a crop circle can potentially make a weapon, but they don’t talk about it. There is no official acknowledgement of any form,” Gazecki added.

Gazecki and Compagnone did not run into any trouble filming “Quest for Truth,” but they did capture stories of those who did.

“There are stories of the government stopping people,” Compagnone said. “We never had anyone try to stop us but we met people who were there with cameras that got stopped with the helicopters flying very, very close to them and pushing them away. No helicopters will come that close to the ground just for the fun of it.”

The government may deny everything, and scientists may be unable to explain them, but crop circles keep appearing all over the world.

“The interesting thing about crop circles is that there is no closure,” Gazecki said. “We don’t know who makes them, we don’t know how they are made, we don’t know why they are there. They are just there.”