[2] It stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, a departing university professor, who puts forth the notion that he is more than 14,000 years old.
The screenplay mirrors similar concepts of longevity which Bixby had introduced in "Requiem for Methuselah", a Star Trek episode he wrote which originally aired in 1969.
The Man from Earth gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through Internet peer-to-peer networks, which raised its profile.
As John's colleagues press him to explain the reason for his departure, he picks up from a reference to Magdalenian cultures by Dan and slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, reveals that he was born in the Paleolithic period.
His colleagues refuse to believe his story but accept it as a working hypothesis in order to glean his true intentions.
He claims to have had a chance to sail with Columbus (admitting that at the time he still believed the earth was flat) and to have befriended Van Gogh (one of whose original paintings he apparently owns, a gift from the artist himself).
Dr. Will Gruber, a psychiatry professor who arrives at Art's request later that afternoon, questions if John feels guilt for outliving everyone he has ever known and loved.
Pressed by the group, John reluctantly reveals that in trying to take the Buddha's teachings to the west, into the eastern Roman Empire, he became the inspiration for the Jesus story.
Will, who has returned after saying he drove around and didn’t know where else to go, demands that John end his tale and give the group a sense of closure by admitting it was all a hoax.
It was released on DVD in North America by Anchor Bay Entertainment on November 13, 2007, and became available for digital rental and sale at iTunes on September 22, 2009.
It won the grand prize for Best Screenplay and first place for Best Feature at the Rhode Island Film Festival in August 2007.
[15] A direct sequel, The Man from Earth: Holocene, was released in 2017, with David Lee Smith and William Katt respectively reprising their roles as John Oldman and Art Jenkins.