American Freedoms

The United States has long been portrayed as a place that, at the best of times, rewards people who work hard, seek out opportunity, and defend their right to enjoy basic freedoms. How do people living in the U.S. see themselves fitting into this popular story about freedom and the "American" experience?

I am recording conversations with hundreds of people nationwide, asking them to weigh in on this narrative and discuss their own experience. Are there privileges and opportunities that living in the U.S. has enabled them to enjoy, and others that have been denied? What have they learned from seeing other peoples' efforts to secure political, cultural, economic, and personal freedoms? Are there privileges or rights that everyone in the U.S. deserves, and do Americans sometimes take their freedoms for granted? Why has there historically been so much conflict in the U.S. over defining rights and freedoms and over what it takes to secure them? And why, despite these conflicts, do people often describe their demands and aspirations as chapters in an "American" story, part of a tradition with a shared and unified vision?

The narrative in American Freedoms will be drawn exclusively from these interviews and so will be presented, literally, by the individuals who choose to participate. They will do the talking, without "experts" offering commentary or passing judgement on freedom's many meanings and histories. And because so many people are involved, no one will get extensive screen time or have their views or life stories highlighted. Instead the film will present a patchwork of conversations about people's experiences, understandings, and convictions, many that will be familiar to viewers and others that will no doubt surprise or confuse. The project invites participants and viewers to put competing ideas about freedoms in the United States—freedoms imagined, aspired to, and realized—in conversation with their own.

To learn more or inquire about participating, click the links above.