Homegrown

Programmers notes: Regardless of the outcome of this year’s presidential election, a surge of right-wing extremism has been normalized in U.S. society to a degree that won’t dissipate overnight. And while there have been many journalistic studies and profiles made of the so-called alt-right and various MAGA-militia offshoots, none have had the access of Homegrown, which follows pro-Trump activists from local organizing efforts into the unhinged violence of the January 6th insurrection.

Perhaps no words could express the intensity of Homegrown than Michael Premo’s in the intro to his director’s statement for the film: “I never thought I’d make a movie in the U.S. where I’d be shot at, witness political rivals fist-fighting in the streets, and film a protagonist through hours of hand-to-hand combat at the U.S. Capitol. In one scene, my producer and I thought we would be crushed to death. All films are emotional for their makers, but this one has been particularly affecting as a Black filmmaker without the privilege to turn away.” Homegrown holds a similar power to history-unfolding documentaries like Sergey Loznitsa’s Maidan, while calling out to viewers with a singular urgency: after all, we’re still living in the chapter of history it depicts, with its final sentences still to be written. 

— Eric Allen Hatch

Producer Rachel Falcone expected for a post-film Q+A.