AN AMERICAN PASTORAL

Is there a future for secular democracy in the US? The cultural and ideological battle over education rages on, amid banned books and censorship. A profound portrait of the contradictions underlying current American society.

Pennsylvania, 2023: With elections just around the corner and most school board seats at stake, fundamentalist candidates go from house to house in the Elizabethtown district. In the local Republican Party, white supremacy, scheming and Christian nationalism are advancing unabated. Democrats fear this will lead to censorship of sex education books and stigmatization of sexual orientations. The school board is increasingly charged with tension, there are marches in the streets, and churches are gathering various extremisms. Distrust, anger and fear describe the‘deep America that will lead to Trump.