Doctor bringing UF0-like experience to the screen
By Wendy Kale
Colorado Daily (U. Colorado)

(U-WIRE) BOULDER, Colo. -- Dr. Lynne Kitei has always been involved with
celestial objects. Stars mostly, with names like Nicholas Cage, Holly
Hunter and John Goodman. Kitei, an actress in the early days of her
career, starred as Florence Arizona, the mother of the kidnapped Nathan
Arizona Jr., in the hit 1987 film "Raising Arizona." But the thing that
would bring her to national prominence involved not stars, but something
else that glowed one night in the sky above Phoenix.
Kitei is the medical doctor who brought the fascinating story of the
1997 "Phoenix Lights" phenomenon to the public. Although she kept her
work underground for seven years, people around the country heard about
her UFO-type encounters on the late-night radio show "Coast to Coast
A.M."

Now Kitei is going public with her research. Thursday she debuts her
documentary film "The Phoenix Lights" at Landmark's Crossroads Theatres.
"After seven years of anonymity, I recently came forward as a key
witness to the historic Arizona mass sighting of March 13, 1997," said
Kitei. "Besides giving up the position as Chief Clinical Consultant of
the Imaging & Wellness Center at the Arizona Heart Institute, I pushed
my medical career aside to compile a meticulous journal including
witness, media, military reports, and scientific analysts of my own
experiences."

Kitei gave up her prestigious medical job to find a logical explanation
for the now famous "Phoenix Lights" incident when, according to Kitei
and other witnesses, "a formation of UFOs flew over Phoenix, Arizona."
Commercial pilots, air traffic controllers, and thousands of private
citizens also reported the unusual sighting. To this day, no one's sure
exactly what was witnessed, but quite a few people documented the aerial
ballet of flickering lights that took place over the Phoenix skyline.
Kitei became determined to find out what actually happened on that night
nearly a decade ago, and on the recurring nights of the Phoenix "light
shows."

"I had no interest or knowledge of UFOs as a child, though I did have a
near-death experience," explained Kitei. "It made me feel that maybe
there are other intelligences out there that are watching over and
helping us."
From the time of her childhood experience to the present, Kitei says her
various life vocations led to her present-day research.
Kitei grew up in Philadelphia and attended Temple University as a grad
and undergraduate. While attending college, the future doctor also
appeared in musical theater productions.

After graduation, Kitei was involved with a family medical practice and
spent time making documentaries and acting.
"I played the mother -- Florence Arizona in the movie," said Kitei.
"I've also appeared on TV syndication giving health tips, and I produced
videos on vital health issues. I've been involved in educating
communities for over 30 years. I look at the whole picture with 'the
unexplained' as still unexplained, and I'd love to help explain this
phenomenon."

Kitei moved to Phoenix in the early '80s, but it wasn't until February
of 1995 that she had her first unexplained "sighting" in the skies.
"About 100 yards from our house we saw three amber orbs in the sky,"
recalled Kitei. "There were definitely three distinct objects. I always
go back to that night, because that event was so up close and personal.
We raced to get a camera, and the top orb started to disappear in place.
It started to dim very slowly, but we got a good picture of the two
lower orbs."

Other sightings followed, but nothing prepared the people of Phoenix,
Arizona for the mass sighting that took place on March 13, 1997.
According to Kitei (and the witnesses she interviewed for her film), a
massive V-shaped formation of bright amber orbs glided into place over
the Southwest city. Thousands of people across the state reported the
phenomenon -- the story even made front-page headlines in Phoenix.

Kitei has her own views of the spectacular overhead light show.
"It was pretty unnerving," said Kitei. "It looked like the mothership or
some fleet of ships."
Kitei didn't talk publicly about what she saw that night for most of a
decade, but then felt she had to come out with what she had experienced.

"I kept silent for seven years because I didn't want to get involved
with the media," said Kitei.

"However, those sightings sent me on a meticulous search to find a
logical meaning to what I saw. It opened a whole new world to me and I
ended up with a 250-page book."
To document her research, Kitei successfully videotaped the March 1997
"UFO" event and photographed a January '98 appearance of the "sky orbs."

"We even had three great sightings last year -- this has been a work in
progress," said Kitei. "I had all this information; it's so intriguing
and important, and it was time for this story to be told."
Kitei's research resulted in the 2000 edition (and 2004 revision) of her
book "The Phoenix Lights" and in the documentary of the same name. The
film has been well received around the country and has won several film
awards. Actor/UFO buff Dan Akroyd even requested a documentary interview
and used Kitei's photos for his DVD "UFO's Unplugged."

Thursday Kitei's "Phoenix Lights" documentary comes to the Landmark
Theatres, where the doctor will host a special screening of the film as
well as a question and answer session.
However, Kitei is interested in taking her research one step beyond her
UFO footage. The doctor sees a connection between this event and all
unexplained phenomenon -- and she thinks there is a spiritual connection
between all these events.

"I've looked at the data and done my homework," said Kitei. "There seems
to be a connection between all unexplained phenomenon. I've been finding
that the after-effects of these experiences is more important; there is
an awakening and enlightenment that happens to people who have these
experiences. It's a message of awareness that says we're not alone and
that we're spiritual beings."