This year, documentaries that tackle pressing political issues including immigration, abortion and the Jan. 6 insurrection were meant to make an impact on the 2024 presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. While some, like Errol Morris’ immigration control documentary “Separated” and Matt Tyrnauer’s “Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid” both found distribution deals prior to Election Day with MSNBC and CNN respectively, there are many more docus that have been or will be self distributed that American voters on both sides would benefit from watching — even after the election.
As both Democrats and Republicans gear up for potential unrest and protracted legal battles following the results of the election, docus like “64 Days: The Road to Insurrection,” “The Last Republican” and “Zurawski V. Texas” are arguably more important viewing than ever before.
Director Nick Quested embedded with the Proud Boys and other far-right groups in the months leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He turned his footage into “64 Days: The Road to Insurrection” – a firsthand account of the conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.
Quested, who self-released the doc last month on Vimeo, says that his film will remain relevant in the upcoming months.
“If Trump wins, I think it becomes a protest film because this is how (Trump) sets his stool up every time, and if Harris wins, it’s a warning about what’s going to happen again,” says Quested. “We are seeing exactly the same things happening again and again and again that happened in 2020 after Biden was elected. The messaging is the same. (MAGA) is questioning the mail-in ballots. There are poll workers being trained to create pretext for lawsuits. There’s going to be pressure on elected and election officials in all the swing states. There’s going to be boards of supervisors that refuse to certify elections. There are going to be state legislators that refuse to certify the Electoral College. So, ’64 Days’ doesn’t lose relevance after the election because it’s actually about the period between the election and inauguration day.”
Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s “Zurawski v Texas,” about women who sued Texas after the state’s overly restrictive abortion laws almost caused them to die, was self-released in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and cities across Texas on Oct. 25. The directing duo are still hopeful that the film will find traditional distribution, but have “leaned into alternative models for distribution” and will continue to do so after the election because they feel the docu is a bipartisan educational tool.
“I don’t think that this election will change the immediate outcome of who has access to (abortion) care,” says Crow. “So regardless of who wins, Texas is still in the same situation as are other states with abortion bans. I think that people, families, men, and obviously women all need to see this film to really understand the realities of what abortion bans mean in practice.”
Crow adds that since the film had its world debut at the Telluride Film Festival, it has been used as a civil discourse resource to talk about abortion.
“People come up to us and say, ‘Wow, I can really use some of the stories that I’ve heard in this film when having conversations with family members or friends who might think differently than I think about abortion,’” says Crow.
Steve Pink also hopes his doc “The Last Republican,” about former U.S. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who sacrificed his career by publicly demanding accountability for Donald Trump’s role in the 2021 insurrection, will also be used as a tool for civil discourse in the days following the election.
“Civil discourse will probably be the key to the success of our society and our communities, period,” says Pink. “But we have become so polarized, and there’s so much hatred that even the idea of contending with the opposing views of people, even people who you love, feels impossible.”
Pink, a self-professed far-left progressive, says that he learned to talk to “the other side” while making the doc.
“Because Adam and I started to become friends while filming, I felt a lot more comfortable arguing with him about things that I believed in, but without it having that emotional freight,” says Pink. “What I learned, and I’ve gotten better at it since in my life, is really understanding that everyone is your friend. Because if you think of everyone as your friend you are more willing to hear what they have to say, even though the second they open their mouth, you don’t agree with them. You aren’t going to just blast them because they are your friend.”
“The Last Republican,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, will open in theaters across the United States on Nov. 22, just over two weeks after the election.
“There will be shenanigans happening after election night in an attempt to subvert and undermine the integrity of the vote,” Pink says. “That could metastasize into some very difficult moments for America this fall and this winter. I want everyone to see “The Last Republican” no matter what side of the political divide they are on because no matter what happens on Nov. 5, we all have to get better at figuring out how to have conversations with people we disagree with.”
