Local filmmakers invite scientists to review Champ footage

CROWN POINT | Award-winning filmmakers Richard Rossi and Kelly Tabor, who firmly believe they captured definitive evidence of the legendary Lake Champlain monster "Champ," announced they are opening an official application process for accredited marine biologists, oceanographers, zoologists, and independent digital video forensics experts to join a select scientific review panel evaluating their 2024 aerial drone capture. The media asset, widely recognized as the "Tabor-Rossi footage," was captured accidentally while the duo was filming scenes on Lake Champlain for their acclaimed feature film Lucy and the Lake Monster. While Rossi and Tabor are "one thousand percent" convinced that the footage displays the historic lake monster, they are organizing a controlled, private review of the entire continuous 12-minute high-definition capture and its original camera metadata to provide hard data to mainstream science. Ten seconds of the footage, shown on William Shatner's UnXplained, went viral and was on the front-pages of newspapers worldwide, and captures an estimated 15-foot biological anomaly moving consistently near the surface of the lake, shot at a direct aerial vertical angle relative to a 12-foot rowboat. "We are completely convinced that what we caught on camera that day was Champ," said co-creator Richard Rossi. "We captured this footage in total good faith, and because we know it is real, we want the data to speak for itself. We are inviting established, serious academic researchers to apply for access so they can analyze the physical mechanics, movement, and size of this historic sighting." "Lake Champlain has a rich history of true sightings," added co-writer Kelly Tabor. "Our award-winning Lucy and the Lake Monster film is an allegory for humanity's spiritual search, but the physical footage we caught is a matter of hard data. We want verified, mainstream scientific bodies and university departments to examine the files frame-by-frame to study what we believe is a genuine specimen." The initiative marks a proactive push by the filmmakers to prioritize rigorous academic inquiry over unverified public commentary. The release comes on the heels of their feature dramatic film Lucy and the Lake Monster, which won more than 30 prestigious film festival awards globally. It is the first film in a trilogy. The sequel is in post-production and will be released in 2027. Lucy and the Lake Monster, which explores a young orphan girl and her grandfather searching for the legendary sea serpent, is currently streaming free nationwide on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and FreeVee. Credentialed scientists, academic researchers, and established university departments wishing to be considered for the private review panel can submit their credentials and a formal data request to the filmmakers via email at richardrossilive@gmail.com.

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Local filmmakers invite scientists to review Champ footage

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