| The Man from Earth: Holocene | |
| Director: | Richard Schenkman |
| Producer: | Richard Schenkman Eric D. Wilkinson |
| Screenplay: | Richard Schenkman Emerson Bixby |
| Story: | Richard Schenkman Eric D. Wilkinson |
| Starring: | David Lee Smith William Katt Vanessa Williams |
| Runtime: | 98 min. |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States |
| Music: | Mark Hinton Stewart |
| Cinematography: | Richard Vialet |
| Editing: | Bobby K. Richardson |
The Man from Earth: Holocene is a 2017 American science fiction drama film directed by Richard Schenkman and written by Richard Schenkman and Emerson Bixby, based on characters created by Bixby's father, science fiction writer Jerome Bixby. It is a sequel to the 2007 film The Man from Earth. David Lee Smith returns as the "John Oldman" character, the protagonist from the original film, although going by a different name.[1] The marketing of the film was notable for leveraging a full spectrum of both conventional and "pirate" channels to maximize visibility and distribution.
The plot focuses on university professor John Oldman, now calling himself John Young, who is secretly a Cro-Magnon man (or Magdalenian caveman) who has survived for more than 14,000 years. However, despite all those years of immortality, John has found that he has begun to age and no longer heals as quickly as he used to. The reason implied is that he is linked somehow with the Holocene epoch ending. Meanwhile, four of his students have begun to suspect the truth about him and contact Art Jenkins, whose career fell apart after publishing a book about John's story.
In 2013, Schenkman expressed the motivations behind the production of the film:
"People have been asking for this since the first movie became a viral phenomenon. Over the years, I've spent time developing this property with the ultimate goal to create a long-form series. I've had a lot of help from a number of really talented people, and stunning support from fans all over the world. It's been a long road, but now that we're about to start shooting, I could not be more excited."[1]
From 1 to 16 June 2016, principal photography for the film took place.[2] Editing was completed on 21 September 2016.[3] The producers have stated on Facebook that it could be the first in a series.
On 16 January 2018, the creators uploaded this film to The Pirate Bay for completely legal download.[4]
Other partners have included MovieSaints.com (effective as of 19 January 2018),[5] where fans were able to pay to see the film but would receive a full refund if they did not enjoy it.[6]