Last year, gonzo filmmaker Jazz Sagar picked up his camera and started interviewing north Londoners about the blurred line between reality and fiction.

The resulting self-funded 60 minute film Made For Reel combined fiction with documentary, and scooped 15 awards in experimental or inspirational categories at various film festivals.

Eager to sell his work, the Kentish Town resident secured accreditation for the Cannes Film Festival, and set off to France on a bus.

Ham & High: Like his first film, Reel Encounters questions what is real and what is fiction and blends documentary with set up scenes.Like his first film, Reel Encounters questions what is real and what is fiction and blends documentary with set up scenes. (Image: Jazz Sagar)

"I had an urge to go to Cannes, but didn't realise it would take 24 hours," says Sagar, whose day job is working in visual effects for Hollywood films.

"There were thousands of sales agents and most people weren't interested in an unusual film that is not in a specific genre. But on the third day, an independent US sales agent picked it up, loved it, and took it for worldwide rights to sell to the channels."

Made for Reel is now undergoing quality control checks and minor changes to get it ready to pitch to the likes of Netflix. In the meantime, the DIY director headed out with a camera and sound operator to film his second movie around Primrose Hill, Camden, Hampstead and Highgate.

Reel Encounters is a "sci-fi comedy" that started out as a pranking alien movie and turned into something else as he uncovered stories of abductees, and people who had sighted UFOs and mysterious beings.

Ham & High: During the course of the film Sagar talks to interviewees about whether there is something outside ourselves that connects usDuring the course of the film Sagar talks to interviewees about whether there is something outside ourselves that connects us (Image: Jazz Sagar)

Putting the question, is there a mysterious force that connects us all? to "psychanaughts, remote viewers, philosophers, tantric goddesses, writers, actors, musicians, time travellers and cyberpunks," he ended up listening to a range of "science and psudo-science" including morphic resonance, energy vibrations, telepathy, quantum physics, string theory, the block universe, the Akashic records, and research into the hallucinogen DMT.

"It occurs in plants and animals and if people take a large amount they describe the same kind of being, as if they have reached another dimension or crossed over." 

He adds: "Towards the end of the last film we were talking about consciousness and identity and I wanted to explore the concept further - whether there is something outisde of ourselves and the idea that we are all connected by a collective consciousness.

Ham & High: Sagar asked actors including Emmerdale's Bhaskar Patel about what connects us.Sagar asked actors including Emmerdale's Bhaskar Patel about what connects us. (Image: Jazz Sagar)

"I had no clue where it was going or where I would end up so I let the film flow and tried to find a story in the process."

The film sees him interview, a psychic spy, someone who was abducted by aliens as a child, and another who travelled 100 years into the future. It also includes "something surprising in the Megaro Hotel at Kings Cross which changed my whole paradigm".

"I can’t say too much about it but it will be a shock for the viewers."

Interviewees include former Eastenders star Lucy Speed, The Bill actor Andrew Lancel, Emmerdale regular Bhasker Patel, comic Mark Silcox and even Jon Campling who played a Death Eater in Harry Potter.

Ham & High: A scene from Reel EncountersA scene from Reel Encounters (Image: Jazz Sagar)

"I asked what they think connects people. As an actor you have to be connected to the person you are playing, and to the audience."

When Sagar headed up to Primrose Hill - the final site of the Martian invasion in sci-fi classic War of the Worlds - with a UFO detector, he caused a stir with the local constabulary.

"It was a beautiful evening with a huge moon, packed with young people, and our filming drew a big crowd. I decided to start interviewing people about UFOs, and it caught the attention of Police, who came to see what was happening, and may end up in the film."

Sagar, who is planning an October premiere in London for Reel Encounters, points out that if aliens have seen the HG Wells story, then North West London is the last place they would land.

"The film has been broadcast lots of times, and all the aliens die. If we have been beaming up signals, then they will be too scared to come to Primrose Hill - because how will they know what's fiction and what's real?"