This is a cross-post with one of my other podcasts - AROUND THE LENS. It’s podcast and site that deals with everything visual, photojournalism, videography, documentaries and so much more. Please check it out and subscribe to Around the Lens.
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On the latest Around the Lens REEL review Dave and Zach discuss the fantastic new documentary HOMEGROWN. I’ll have my interview with the director posted here and at Around The Lens later this week.
Directed by Michael Premo the film follows three Trump supporters as the nation leads to the January 6th insurrection. The camera follows the three men as they go to protests, commit hate crimes and have uncomfortable moments with their family. One of the men, Chris Quaglin is documented shockingly as he breaks into the US Capitol, fights with law enforcement and somehow gets away with it all.
The film has an incredible footage of private interactions with the MAGA supporters family and friends as they head down the extremist pipeline as so many people did in 2020. Anyone who wants to understand how normal Americans went from chatting with their families about home renovations to attacking US Capitol policeman within a couple of months needs to watch this film.
The conversations that happen in this film should studied to save future generations from what this country has become.
HOMEGROWN is an award winning documentary that as someone who covered the far right movement for years in the leadup to January 6th I only dream of being able to have made. The intimate details that the filmmakers have drawn out of the subjects in hotel rooms and as they build their own kids bedrooms is incredible. The filmmakers Michael Premo (director), Rachel Falcone (producer) and the incredible photojournalist and co-producer Jim Urquhart have truly created a masterpiece here that should be watched and studied.
You can rent the film the film on Gathr https://gathr.com/vod/4f215f76/homegrown
From Homegrown’s site: What begins as activism quickly escalates as three conservatives join a widening conflict over identity, power, and the future of American democracy.
With a patient and unflinching approach, Homegrown follows a father-to-be in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran in New York City, and a charismatic activist from Texas crisscrossing the country during a period of profound national fracture from the summer of 2020 through the spring of 2025. As the country accelerates toward political crisis, we witness democratic norms crumbling not through a single event, but from hundreds of personal choices made by ordinary people.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33022318/reference/?ref_=fn_t_3
