A24 held a Zoom press conference Sunday with “Boys State” filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss along with some of the subjects of the documentary. It was officially released Aug. 14 on Apple TV+.
The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January where it won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary.
“Boys State” follows a weeklong annual program in Austin, Texas, where more than 1,000 high school senior boys gather at Boys State to build a mock Texas state government.
The documentary centers around four of the boys including Ben Feinstein, a conservative self-proclaimed “politics junkie" and Steven Garza, a second-generation Mexican immigrant who was a March For Our Lives leader.
Director and producer Moss said most subjects were picked out before the week at Boys State began. Only one subject was picked after start of filming.
"We fully credit the hand of fate," Moss said. "We can't control the documentary gods, and they did shine down upon us. We got very lucky."
Documentary subject Robert MacDougall said in the press conference that he went into Boys State with what he called a “narrow mindset.” In the documentary, the viewer follows MacDougall as he campaigns for the position of mock governor.
Along the way, MacDougall lies to his constituents several times to try and gain their support. He gave anti-abortion speeches to appeal to the crowd even though he is pro-choice. Despite lying to gain favor, MacDougall still lost to Garza in the primary election.
“You don’t have to lie to win all the time,” MacDougall said. “You don’t have to be dishonest. You don’t have to hide yourself.”
Garza, running against MacDougall for governor, did the opposite. Despite the majority of the program attendees being conservative, Garza took a pro-gun control stance. He focused his platform on uniting his party, and he won the primary election.
“My experience at this program would be immortalized forever, so I knew I didn’t want to lie to myself,” Garza said. “I wanted to look back on this years from now and be proud of what I was able to do there.”
The boys were split into two parties: federalists and nationalists. Nationalist Garza ended up losing the gubernatorial election to the federalist nominee despite gaining favor from members of both parties.
Feinstein, the “politics junkie,” was elected federalist party chair during the weeklong event. He helped lead his party’s gubernatorial nominee to victory.
Feinstein said he enjoyed watching the documentary, and has watched it several times since seeing the first cut in 2019.
“I saw the event from three other perspectives,” Feinstein said. “It’s very rare that you get to revisit events from past parts of your life with the fog of war and rose-tinted nostalgia glasses removed.”
There are Boys State and Girls State programs in 49 states each year. The Indiana Boys State director Scott Weyler said he has watched “Boys State” several times.
Weyler said he believes it is important for young adults to engage in political discussion.
“Politics is every day of your life,” Weyler said. “You need an understanding, especially in a state like Indiana where people just vote for the party.”
Weyler said he thinks it’s beneficial for people to learn how the behind the scenes of politics works. He said “Boys State” is a great example of how the program can teach young people the power of speech.
“The overlying themes of politics and how things can go your way and not go your way comes through in every Boys State program,” Weyler said.
“Boys State” is an Apple Original Films and A24 Release and is available to stream on Apple TV+.
