The Ragsdale Lab

The Project

I found professor Cliff Ragsdale on the news. Explaining to a news anchor how his lab had just sequenced the octopus genome, Ragsdale said: "The octopus is the closest thing we will ever find on earth to an alien from outer space." At that moment I knew I had to find Ragsdale and make a documentary about his research.

My Role

I contacted Ragsdale and proposed making a film about his laboratory. I collaborated with his graduate research assistants, gaining access to their workspace including a basement facility where they were bredding octopus larvae. I photographed everything like an episode of The X-Files and even got permission to incorporate footage from an infamous 1990s "Alien Autopsy" hoax video.

The Impact

• Won the first Emmy Award in University of Chicago history.
• Effectively recruited new students to Ragsdale's laboratory, which continues producing significant research.

Produced, Photographed & Edited by A. Penta | 2D Animations by A. Penta