The 1964 science-fiction film that was Spielberg’s first independent feature was Firelight.
Spielberg wrote and directed Firelight when he was only 17. The amateur feature follows scientists and UFO believer Howard Richards as strange lights appear over the fictional Arizona town of Freeport. People, animals, and objects begin disappearing, eventually revealing an alien plan to transport the town to another planet as part of a human zoo.
The film was made largely on weekends and evenings with help from Spielberg’s family, schoolmates, and the Arcadia High School band. He also handled cinematography, editing, and the music. Its reported budget was about $500, an extraordinary contrast with the large-scale productions that later defined his career.
Firelight premiered at Phoenix Little Theatre on March 24, 1964, where Spielberg reportedly sold 500 tickets and made a tiny profit. Only a few minutes of footage are publicly available today. Its alien-abduction premise and visual ideas helped inspire Close Encounters of the Third Kind, released in 1977.