Firelight is a 1964 science fiction adventure film. It was written by Steven Spielberg at the age of 16 and he directed it on a budget of $500. The film was his first commercial success, was shown at a local cinema and generated a profit of $1. "I counted the receipts that night [...] and we charged a dollar a ticket. Five hundred people came to the movie and I think somebody probably paid two dollars, because we made one dollar profit that night, and that was it."From Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton interviewing Steven Spielberg.

Plot

Firelight follows a group of scientists – particularly Tony Karcher and UFO believer Howard Richards - as they investigate a series of colored lights in the sky and the subsequent disappearance of people, animals and objects from the fictional American town of Freeport, Arizona. Among those kidnapped by the Alien are a dog, a unit of soldiers and young girl called Lisa, whose abduction induces a heart attack in her mother. Spielberg, showing maturity as a teenager, has sub-plots involving marital discord between Karcher and his wife Debbie and the obsessive quest of Richards to convince the CIA that alien life does not exist. The twist comes as the aliens, represented by three shadows, reveal their purpose: to transport Freeport to their home planet Altaris and create a human zoo.