Director on telling a flat Earth believer’s story, which is set for Texas premiere at Thin Line Fest

Stephen Crompton is the director of the short documentary Fake, which will be screening its Texas premiere at the 2025 Thin Line Festival in Denton.

Fake follows Peter, a lone man who travels to universities bearing a message that the moon landings were staged and warning that the Earth is not what it seems.

Andrew Valentine is an educator and documentarian who served on the Thin Line short film programming team. He talks with Crompton on behalf of the organization.

See Fake: April 26 at the Campus Theatre

For more information about screenings and the festival, visit thinline.us.

Responses were edited lightly for clarity and length.

Andrew Valentine: Do you want to give a little background on this project?

Stephen Crompton: This project kind of materialized from an encounter I had here. In 2018, I had a friend visiting who told me he’d been watching flat Earth videos and talked about their resurgence. So we went back to my place and watched these videos for a few hours. They were wild — some even had Hans Zimmer scores, so they felt very epic. I became really interested. I thought, if there was someone around here … there’s always someone, somewhere, with unconventional ideas. But if I could find someone nearby, this might be a topic I could work with.

It wasn’t until January 2019 that I found a guy living locally who claimed he’d been fired from his church for attending a flat Earth conference. He had just started a YouTube channel and had become a prominent voice in the movement pre-pandemic. Over a little more than a year, he went from being fired for attending a conference to being one of the featured speakers at the international flat Earth conference in 2019, which took place in Frisco.

Not two weeks later, someone texted me saying, “There’s a guy in front of the student union talking about the moon landings being faked — I thought you should know.” I knew immediately — that’s a common entry point for this worldview.

I think what really separates him from others is that he’s actively going out, spreading the word, putting himself front and center, which I found pretty engaging.

Valentine: How welcoming was he to you making this film about him? Was he worried the film might make fun of him? How was that relationship?

Crompton: I don’t think he was concerned. In my earlier filming, I wouldn’t say there was resistance, but people in that movement who want to get the word out often think there’s no such thing as bad publicity. You’re going to get mocked no matter what.

Peter, who’s the focus of this film, was very open — he just said, “Yeah, this is fine. I don’t mind you doing this.” And I would expect that from someone setting up shop on college campuses — he’s used to conflict and skepticism.

He also has a sense of humor. I hope the film takes him seriously enough that it’s not disrespectful, but [it] also has a sense of humor I think he’d appreciate.

Valentine: One thing that really stuck out to me was how the film is almost confrontational. You focus completely on Peter without bringing in outside experts to critique him. It sort of traps the audience with him. Can you elaborate on that choice?

Crompton: Yeah. Peter has a lot of energy and some degree of charisma, which draws people in. It certainly drew me in, and it was clearly drawing students in, too. There was just more going on with him to hold my attention.

I didn’t want to bring in too many of the people he was talking to — mostly students — because they were often just passing by. They’d stop, say a few words, and move on. It’s the repetition of that that I found compelling.

To some degree, I admire his commitment. It might not be a cause I — or you — agree with, but you can’t fault his passion. So I focused on that. What happens if we sit in this echo chamber, which, frankly, is what he’s in. He mostly connects with like-minded people online or at conferences. So that’s what I wanted to explore: What happens when you’re stuck in this space? Where does that lead?

Valentine: Do you think there’s something about college towns that attracts people like Peter?

Crompton: I think it’s because college campuses provide a somewhat captive audience. So if it’s a public institution, someone like Peter can go there and speak — and there’s guaranteed foot traffic.

He also lives somewhat close to Cincinnati, and there’s an event called Food A Cincinnati, which is more of a wining-and-dining event, and he’s done that, too. So it’s not just college campuses. But he says he gets good results there, and he likes that it’s a new set of faces every year.

Valentine: When I was reviewing the film, something stuck out that I’ve been interested in for a while — the idea of people searching for purpose. Peter retired, and it was after that he says he realized the Earth is flat. These days, fewer people are religious, church attendance is declining, but people still want things to believe in.

Crompton: For a lot of people, they’re coming at it from a biblical perspective. They’ll refer to it as “biblical cosmology.” They believe this supports the Bible, the idea of a creator — and that once people realize this, it’ll set them on the right path. So yeah, I do think, for many, it’s very much a spiritual thing.

Valentine: And also, he found a mission.

Crompton: Yeah. It keeps him very active. He’s constantly traveling around and clearly feels a deep sense of purpose. That’s pretty incredible. Spending so much time with him, watching him do his thing — he’s very passionate. And polite. I’ve only seen him yell when provoked.

Valentine: One of the interesting things about conspiracy thinking is how it spirals. People start with “the moon landing was faked,” then move to “the Earth is flat,” then “vaccines are bad,” and eventually everything’s part of a broader conspiracy.

With that in mind, is there anything you’d like to say about how your film reflects what’s happening now?

Crompton: There’s definitely some science skepticism, which is surprising, considering Peter’s a retired engineer. From talking with him and others, for many it goes like this: “I already thought 9/11 was an inside job. I already thought the moon landings were fake.” So then, flat Earth is just another step — and others follow from there.

There’s already a system of distrust in place. I’m not saying that’s true of all of them, including Peter, but for many, they actually start with flat Earth and work their way backward to question other things.