Paul Wallis explores Zecharia Sitchin, the Anunnaki and the wider paleocontact hypothesis in this documentary examination of ancient Mesopotamian texts, biblical traditions and the origins of the ancient astronaut debate.

Was Sitchin right to interpret the Anunnaki as powerful beings who came from the heavens to Earth? Paul looks beyond Sitchin’s popular books to the older source material itself, including Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform texts, Atraḫasīs, the Enūma Eliš, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian King List and traditions surrounding the Apkallu, Igigi and DINGIR.

The documentary also traces the relationship between Mesopotamian literature and the Hebrew Bible, examining Elohim, Yahweh, Psalm 82, Deuteronomy 32 and the Book of Enoch. Paul considers how early Assyriologists such as George Smith understood the connections between biblical and Mesopotamian traditions, and asks whether these ancient stories preserve cultural memories of contact with advanced non-human beings.

The film also separates Sitchin’s genuine interpretations from later fictionalised material, explores the academic study of these ancient texts, and considers why stories of sky beings, civilising teachers and contact traditions appear across multiple ancient cultures.

**Anunnaki: Sitchin and Paleocontact** offers a detailed look at one of the most controversial questions in ancient history: were the gods of the ancient world simply mythology, or were our ancestors describing something they believed had actually happened?