Sure, 2020 is a different type of election year, but “Boys State” - the 2020 Sundance Film Festival’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner – shows a very unique slice of politics. Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ film presents Texas Boys State, an American Legion-promoted, one-week event in which over 1,000 teenage boys gather in Austin and engage in a government simulation.
The Phoenix Film Festival, along with several media outlets, joined a Zoom call with McBaine, Moss, and three Boys State participants: Steven Garza, René Otero, and Ben Feinstein. The Phoenix Film Festival’s questions were not selected during the call, but we were honored to attend. Here is the insightful, thoughtful discussion!
“Boys State” arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday, Aug. 14.
Q: How did you find Steven, René, and Ben for your film?
AM: Finding the main characters (for) any vérité film is always a challenge. (They are) never really the people (who) we initially expect to find. Out of a pool of 1,000 kids heading to Boys State, we had to whittle (our choices) down to four. We had a checklist of things that we needed. We needed them to be diverse, have different political views, be politically savvy, ambitious, (and) vulnerable. There are all kinds of things we needed, but then there’s the irrational piece of “I don’t know what else we’re looking for.” It (took) a long time to find them, but when we did, there was an instant moment of recognition.
Steven was a quieter voice in the one of the orientations that Jesse (attended), and we didn’t find René (until after the) event started. You meet him in the film the way we met him (and we thought), “You! We’ve been waiting for you!”
Fortunately, (René) was game to let us follow him, so it was a little bit of luck too.
Q: René, we are introduced to you after you gave an incredibly powerful speech. Tell us about that experience and being a subject of a film.
René Otero in “Boys State”
RO: (It) was an empowering moment. I wasn’t entirely certain that I wanted to be part of Boys State yet. I felt isolated. Do I conform to survive, or do I proclaim myself? I was mostly quiet about my political views, but I heard some speeches that just stabbed me in my heart. I was angry, so I (went) up there, gave the speech, and it worked out for me. It really, really worked out for me, because Amanda and Jesse happened to be there, and it felt so electrifying to know that they interrupted (their project) and shifted it around to include me.
Q: At Boys State, 1,100 of your peers are interested in the same things: government and politics. I’m curious about that energy.
BF: It took a good day or two to find my niche. The whole energy of the week started in this very intimidating place, but it felt like controlled chaos far more than just chaos. The film captures it to a degree, but the heat, the walking, and the lack of sleep - especially for an amputee walking 38 miles on prosthetics in 100 degree Texas heat on four hours of sleep day-in and day-out - isn’t the easiest thing. So, adrenaline (kept) me going. I don’t think I’ve ever had a week (when) I felt that kind of passion and a raw desire to finish. Unbelievable. That’s the best way to describe it.
SG: You have no time to take it all in. (On the) first day, they throw you into that arena, and it’s like a battle royale. It’s crazy, and my friends who have seen the trailer have said, “Oh my God, it looks insane.”
Steven Garza in “Boys State”
It’s even crazier in person, and I believe (Amanda and Jesse captured) about 300 hours of footage, (that they) compressed into an hour and 45 (minutes). Shenanigans (went on) on the entire week, and I felt like a fish out of water, not only as a brown person in a sea of mostly white faces, but also personality-wise. (I’m not) a rowdy guy that gets involved and (does) backflips. I couldn’t do a backflip. I’d break my neck. That’s not me. I was just keeping to myself and trying to find quiet throughout this hurricane of a week.
JM: It was a bit like taking a little prop plane into a hurricane. Fortunately, we knew (that) we had exceptional subjects and a great crew. We had a crew of 28 people, probably - by a factor of 20 - bigger than any crew we’ve ever had.
We also expected to find some of that crazy energy. We (also) found some real intimacy and emotion that we didn’t expect. That was the surprise for us: to get past the “Lord of the Flies”. We were blown away by René’s speech, but I was more surprised that he captured the room. That was a really conservative room.
We knew (Boys State) would be predominately white and conservative, but René and Steven (got) traction and rose in their party. For us, there was a challenge of (properly) capturing the week, which was hard, (and) the edit was very long. It was a year-long, and I think we wanted to convey the emotion and exhilaration that we experienced in the room.
Q: In retrospect, it appeared that many candidates were focused on winning rather than governing. Is that solely because of the nature of the one-week event, or do you feel that this is systemic of American politics?
Ben Feinstein in “Boys State”
BF: I feel it’s both. Texas Boys State is a simulation where there’s no history of governance, and there’s no shadow of the future. It’s one week where everything is isolated, and people can say whatever they want, and if it sounds good, then it gets the votes. To a larger degree, I think it’s an unhealthy trend in American politics. It spills over into things that shouldn’t be political at all, like business, foreign policy, human rights, and other areas that we’re willing to score points on each other.
I feel like to a dangerous degree, our politics and morality have crossed to the point where more aspects of our (lives) are a part of this team sport. If you’re a conservative, you get those liberals, and if you’re a liberal, screw the conservatives. It’s an extremely unhealthy trend for a democracy that relies on citizens’ responsibility.
Q: You are all phenomenal speakers. Who inspires you?
RO: My older brother. I grew up in a black church, and you do a lot of presentations, spoken words, or Easter speeches, and I was very competitive with him. He (received) a lot of praise and applause, and I (thought), “I want to do that.”
I’m also really into comedians – like Michael Che and Paris Sachay - and I always say that if none of this works out, I can be a comedian.
SG: Three individuals. Two are real, and one is fictional. Beto O’Rourke. You can disagree with his positions, but he tells you what he believes, and you never have to (wonder), if he’s telling the truth. The second one is Bobby Kennedy. His speech after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. is probably my favorite historical speech. The third person. I love “The West Wing”, (so it’s) Josiah Bartlet. Martin Sheen is a phenomenal actor, and it’s an amazing show. People criticize it for being pie-in-the-sky, liberal utopia, but out of (the) three, I probably get the most inspiration from him.
Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic. Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.
