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AFI DOCS: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss on BOYS STATE

“Documentary is an empowering form – the barriers to entry are low.  All you need is a camera, a story and the conviction it’s worth telling.” -Amanda McBaine, co-director of BOYS STATE

BOYS STATE was the Opening Night Film of AFI DOCS 2020.

Winner of the Sundance U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize, BOYS STATE explores politics through a coming-of-age lens. The result reveals American democracy and political division at its most hopeful and terrifying moments.

Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss previously collaborated on four films, as producer and director respectively, before teaming up as co-directors on BOYS STATE. Inspired by landmark verite documentaries from the early/mid 1990s like WAR ROOM, HOOP DREAMS and BROTHER’S KEEPER, they set out to explore the political polarization in United States.

“I hope audiences are reminded, as are the young men and women who participate in Boys State and Girls State, that democracy is not a spectator sport, and that compromise and civil discourse are still possible,” said McBaine.