My Bigfoot Life is a documentary more about family than Sasquatch as it chronicles the inspiring story of an autistic teenage researcher from the United Kingdom.
The 2025 film follows Daniel Lee Barnett, a 15-year-old who overcomes his developmental condition to become a well-respected researcher in the Bigfoot community. It highlights Daniel’s boundless excitement for cryptozoology even as he deals with a sometimes-incapacitating social anxiety. Daniel also has a podcast called Mythical Legends on YouTube.
Passion for the Unknown
Produced by M and M Film Productions, My Bigfoot Life debuted in UK cinemas on September 15. The 90-minute doc is directed by Monika Gergelova and Barnett. It features appearances by several well-known researchers, including Ronny Leblanc, James Fay, Ryan Golembeske, biologist Ranae Holland, and Brian King-Sharp. However, the emotional core of the story is the interviews and moments with Daniel’s parents (Craig Lee and Gemma Barnett) and grandparents (Adrian and Jill Roberts). It’s refreshing to see how the entire family selflessly supports the boy’s passion.
This is not necessarily a documentary about finding Bigfoot, so don’t expect to see any compelling new video evidence of the elusive creature. There are a couple of Sasquatch investigations in the film plus an interesting nugget about eDNA results. However, My Bigfoot Life shines most when it focuses its camera on Daniel, his parents, his grandparents, and fellow researchers as they share their feelings.
Thankfully, Daniel is an affable lad because he’s the star of the show, and we really get to know him. With a keen eye for detail, Daniel demonstrates such an infectious enthusiasm for Bigfoot that it not only spreads to his fellow researchers, but it spread to me the viewer as I found myself getting caught up in the hype.
A Lifetime of Searching
Daniel’s interest in the subject matter started after watching the TV shows Finding Bigfoot and Expedition Bigfoot with his grandfather. That led him to recreating the investigative techniques from the shows on walks in the woods with his grandmother. After Daniel reaches out to fellow Bigfoot enthusiasts, he quickly develops a bond with the researchers, including Ryan “RPG” Golembeske. RPG seems particularly rejuvenated by the teenager’s passion and gives the most emotional interview in the film. On a side note, RPG also delivers the most epic Sasquatch vocalization I’ve ever heard.
Through his friendship with Golembeske, Daniel eventually finds himself flying across the pond on an expedition to the Pacific Northwest surrounded by a team of notable researchers from the U.S. The scene where his grandfather and him are surprised by meeting popular Bigfoot researcher James Fay is one of the best in the film.
The ensuing night investigation in the Pacific Northwest is an intense affair with Daniel claiming to see eyeshine and two other team members saying they briefly glimpsed a retreating Sasquatch. Perhaps the biggest news revealed in the film is when Daniel speaks at the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference. He reports that he found a footprint in the UK and sent soil samples to a Swiss environmental DNA company. The results, he says, returned traces of Old World monkey and great ape environmental DNA, which is quite a revelation in the UK.
Despite those declarations, My Bigfoot Life is ultimately a heartwarming story of family, fellowship, and Daniel’s mission to encourage his generation to get more involved in nature and the sciences. More importantly, the film put a smile on my face, and it was a welcome break from the typical Bigfoot documentary fare found on Tubi and other streaming services.