In early February, A24 and Apple’s joint production of the documentary “Boys State” opened at the Sundance Film Festival. The response was overwhelming. Hailed as one of the best documentaries, and features for that matter, at the festival, “Boys State” found directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine — who previously collaborated on “The Overnighters,” a film we called one of the Best Documentaries of the last decade — winning the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the year’s first big film fest. Following the annual mock gubernatorial race in Austin in which 1,100 boys descend on Texas, the doc highlights the country’s own divide within politics, with all of the hope and desperation we have felt before, feel now, and will feel in the future. It’s a look at masculinity, government, and elections at any level.
Here’s the synopsis:
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“Boys State” is a wildly entertaining and continually revealing immersion into a week-long annual program in which a thousand Texas high school seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government. Filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine closely track the escalating tensions that arise within a particularly riveting gubernatorial race, training their cameras on unforgettable teenagers like Ben, a Reagan-loving arch-conservative who brims with confidence despite personal setbacks, and Steven, a progressive-minded child of Mexican immigrants who stands by his convictions amidst the sea of red. In the process, they have created a complex portrait of contemporary American masculinity, as well as a microcosm of our often dispiriting national political divisions that nevertheless manages to plant seeds of hope.
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The first footage released through this trailer looks closely at a few of the boys, those that likely are running for Governor in this manufactured election. It features congressional-type hearings, snippets of rousing speeches, hard campaigning, and young men hoping to realize their first dream in a long list of future ones. Even in the trailer, it becomes hard not to equate these people with our current political situation, and the film itself is one lens that might give us a bit of foresight into the next 25 years of the American political system and those who run it.
The release couldn’t come at a better time, as A24 announced Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” will be coming to VOD on July 10 and Apple TV+ still hopes to become a bigger player in the streaming scene. If “Boys State” can pull off a minor, yet successful theatrical run, which at this point might not even be possible, then at the very least it will drive people to pay for the platform. It’s that good and when you watch it, it feels important.
A24’s Boys State will open in select theaters on July 31 and will be available on Apple TV+ on August 1.
