Michael Premo Talks Vérité Approach And Lessons Learned With ‘Homegrown’ Documentary

Director Michael Premo spent seven years making his Homegrown, and starting today the documentary is available to rent on the Direct to Audience (DTA) platform GATHR through Monday, February 16 (Presidents’ Day). The movie follows three conservative activists and alo covers the January 6th attack on the Capitol along with its aftermath. Premo talked about his award winning feature, which won Best Technical Contribution at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

“I think one of the big things that really surprised us is we were expecting people to be driven much more by ideology,” said Michael Premo. “I think (with) partisan debates with people, we reduce feelings and emotions and big ideas into these kind of ideologies or policies. What we discovered was people by and large are just for community. They’re just looking for friends (and) looking for meaning. And that was a big thing that we discovered. The other big thing was how diverse the conservative movement is.”

Shooting Homegrown was far from an easy process. Premo and his crew film 70% of the documentary “geared up in blletproof vests and helmets and gas masks.”

On the morning of January 6th, the crew did not wear their helmets and gas masks due to an assumption of preparedness.

“We (thought) that the Capitol police would have the capitol completely surrounded by this, this large fencing that they do sometimes when they know there’s gonna be some type of protest activity,” said Premo. “We were totally surprised that when we got to the base of the Capitol with the people that we were filming, that there was none of that. There was just police in regular, everyday clothing.”

Once a female police officer was punched and rioters pushed over one the barricades, Premo alerted his colleagues to put on their gas masks during the march up to the Capitol.

To rent Homegrown, go to GATHR or check out the documentary’s official site.

***Full interview with Michael Premo:

 

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