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The Jan. 6 riots mark a turning point in American history. By understanding the people behind them, we can understand our current polarization—and even find our way out.
The January 6 attack on the Capitol stands as one of the most consequential events in American political history. By understanding the people driving this movement, we can gain a better picture of the state of our democracy, and what it will take to build together again. Filmmaker Michael Premo spent months filming and getting to know three of the people behind the Jan. 6 riots—and in his award-winning documentary Homegrown, which includes powerful, ground-level footage of the attack, he offers an up-close-and-personal perspective on this event and the broader movement. The film, which The Guardian calls “illuminating” and “gripping” and which has been covered by The Washington Post and more, pulls back the curtain on a movement that we need to understand if we want to move forward as a country. “We need to know who these people are, what they look like, where they come from,” Michael tells The Guardian. “Only then can we understand what we need to do to support the principle of a pluralistic democracy that stands any chance of surviving beyond this current era of us-versus-them politics.”
Michael Premo is a journalist, filmmaker, and artist, whose work spans film, radio, theater, installation and photography.
He directed and produced Homegrown, a feature length documentary that premiered at the 81st Venice Film Festival in 2024. He directed the award-winning short film and photo exhibition Water Warriors (POV), a story about a community’s successful resistance to the oil and gas industry. It has since been rebroadcasted hundreds of times by PBS stations across the country, including annually in November. He also co-directed the participatory web-based documentary Sandy Storyline (Jury Award winner at the Tribeca Film Festival), the site-specific performance Sanctuary (The Working Theater), and the PBS series Veterans Coming Home.
Michael has directed, produced, and co-written original film, radio, and theater with numerous companies including The Foundry Theater, The Civilians, and the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps on NPR. His photography has appeared in publications like The Village Voice, The New York Times, and Het Parool. He has been an artist-in-residence with Camargo Foundation, The Laundromat Project and the National Resource Defense Council.
He is the recipient of an NBC News Studios Original Voices Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, A Blade of Grass Artist Files Fellowship, and a New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award. He is on the board of trustees of A Blade of Grass.
The Jan. 6 riots are one of the most consequential events in American political history. If we can understand the people behind it and the broader movement they represent, we can gain a better understanding of where we stand as a country—and what it will take to move beyond our current polarization and rebuild our democracy together.
In this stirring, compelling talk, delivered as a keynote or fireside chat and with optional screening of the award-winning documentary Homegrown, award-winning filmmaker Michael Premo takes us behind the scenes of the Jan. 6 attack. He draws on the unprecedented access he had during his filming of the documentary to offer a vital new perspective on our current political situation and the future of our democracy.
“I hope people walk away from this film with a taste of the nuance and complexity of people they might not agree with,” Michael says. “People of all stripes wrestle with similar aspirations and frustrations. That suggests our disagreements and problems are not intractable. And that presents many opportunities for hope.”
