The Award-Winning Documentary HOMEGROWN Now Released on January 6, 2026 

Available exclusively through GATHR on the fifth anniversary of the attack on the US Capital.

The critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary HOMEGROWN explores the shifting landscape of American identity, political belonging, and the movements reshaping national power. The film is now released in North America, marking the five-year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Beginning January 6, HOMEGROWN is available to rent via the Direct To Audience℠ (DTA) platform GATHR. Audiences can learn more about this historic film and watch it at Homegrown.film.

Directed by Michael Premo, HOMEGROWN brings raw intimacy and unprecedented access to a political moment still unfolding. Shot across battleground communities and key flashpoints of national tension, the documentary reveals the lived experiences of people whose determination to turn their beliefs into action places them on the front lines of America’s political divide.

The film follows three conservative activists—a newly politicized father-to-be in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran organizing conservatives in New York City, and an activist from Texas—crisscrossing the country in the summer of 2020 campaigning for Donald Trump. When they become convinced that the election is stolen, they take their fight to the streets. The result is a chilling portrait of the growing unrest pushing American democracy to the brink.

HOMEGROWN debuted to international acclaim at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it won Best Technical Contribution. Homegrown has since garnered top honors on the global festival circuit, including The Phoenix Prize at Film Fest Cologne, the Justice Matters Award at Filmfest DC, and was nominated for the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Spotlight Award, recognizing exceptional independent nonfiction filmmaking. It has screened at nearly fifty top-tier film festivals worldwide.

Bearing Witness to a Fractured America

Premo, whose work has long explored the stories that build and sustain social movements, describes the making of HOMEGROWN as unlike anything he has experienced in his two decades of documenting political struggle.“We set out to make an honest, no-judgment study of the people heeding the clarion call of us-vs-them politics,” said Premo. “What emerged is a unique portrait of a homegrown American movement that has demonstrated it is willing to use violence to fight for what they believe America should be. We hope the film serves as a visceral contribution to the discussion on the future of our democracy.”

“This film is not just about a single day,” said producer Rachel Falcone, “It’s about the forces that led us there, the people who felt called to act, and the unresolved tensions that will define who we are as a country.”

A Timely Release with Additional 2025 Footage

The North American release marks the debut of a newly updated version of the film, shaped by the additional year of reporting and follow-up filming—most notably the story of the film’s central protagonist, who served more than four years in prison for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Earlier this year he was pardoned by President Trump, prompting the filmmakers to document how the pardon reshaped his life.

Rather than treating the attack on the Capitol as a final act, the updated film reveals it as the moment that redirects the personal and political trajectories of those at the center of the story. The expanded 2025 footage provides an even deeper, more human story that will continue to unfold. By premiering on January 6, HOMEGROWN anchors its narrative in a moment that continues to define the American political landscape.

Director / Producer / Cinematographer

Michael Premo is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and artist. His work spans film, radio, theater, installation and photography. He directed and produced the short film and photo exhibition Water Warriors (POV). With his frequent collaborator Rachel Falcone, he co-directed the participatory documentary Sandy Storyline (Jury Award winner at the Tribeca Film Festival), co-wrote the site-specific performance Sanctuary (The Working Theater), and co-created the multi-platform exhibit 28th Amendment. Michael has directed, produced, and co-written original radio and theater with numerous companies including Hip-Hop Theater Festival, The Foundry Theater, The Civilians, and the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps on NPR.

His photography has appeared in publications like The Village Voice, The New York Times, and Het Parool. Premo has been an artist-in-residence with Camargo Foundation, and The Laundromat Project. He is the recipient of an NBC News Studios Original Voices Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, A Blade of Grass Artist Files Fellowship, and a New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award. He is on the board of trustees of A Blade of Grass.

Producer / Production Sound

Rachel Falcone is a documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist. She is Executive Director of Storyline. In addition to producing the short film and exhibition Water Warriors, about a community fighting to protect their water (POV), Rachel has co-directed the participatory web documentary and exhibition Sandy Storyline about Hurricane Sandy (Tribeca Film Festival’s inaugural Storyscapes Award), and the multi platform exhibit 28th Amendment. Rachel has produced radio stories with the national oral history project StoryCorps and EarSay, Inc., and was an associate producer on Incite Picture’s Young Lakota (Independent Lens).

She has directed dozens of short films for organizations like AFSCME and The John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has taught oral history and storytelling in collaboration with institutions like the Museum of the City of New York and Parsons The New School for Design. She is also a sound recordist for film and radio, including most recently Knock Down The House (Netflix) and To the End (Hulu).

Co-Producer / Additional Cinematography

Jim Urquhart is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist who has covered the destabilization of America for more than a decade. Previously a staff photojournalist at The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, Urquhart has been freelancing for 10 years. His primary clients are Reuters and National Public Radio. For the last seven years his primary focus has been extremism, hate groups and anti-government militias. He also works as a HEFAT instructor, consultant, and reporter for several news organizations seeking to improve their sourcing and security while covering the far-right. Urquhart was a 2022 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University.

Exclusive Release on GATHR

From January 6, through President’s Day (February 16, 2026), Homegrown will be available exclusively for online rental through the film’s official website, powered by GATHR’s Direct To Audience℠ distribution technology. GATHR’s Direct To Audience℠ model enables filmmakers to engage viewers directly; retaining audience data, fostering community, and sustaining impact beyond a single viewing. The film can be streamed to North American audiences on all major devices.“The filmmakers behind Homegrown  are inviting audiences into one of the most important conversations of our time,” said Scott Glosserman, Founder and CEO of GATHR. “Our Direct To Audience℠ model exists precisely for this purpose—to connect meaningful films with the communities ready to engage them.”

ABOUT HOMEGROWN

Blending award-winning craft with unparalleled access to newly expanded 2025 footage, Homegrown offers a rare, ground-level view of a political movement in real time. Presented without judgment and grounded in human complexity, Homegrown was shot from 2018-2025, offering a critical lens on the forces reshaping American conservatism, political identity, and the meaning of democracy itself. The film is produced by Storyline in association with Bird Street Productions and Impact Partners. Executive producers include James Costa, Alysa Nahmias, Jenny Raskin, Kelsey Koenig, Trevor Burgess and Gary Hess,  and the film is co-produced by Jim Urquhart. Homegrown first premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024 and has received several awards including The Phoenix Prize at Film Fest Cologne, the Justice Matters Award at the Filmfest DC, and was nominated for the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Spotlight Award, recognizing exceptional independent nonfiction filmmaking, among others. For more information, please visit Homegrown.film.  

ABOUT GATHR®

GATHR is revolutionizing film distribution with its Direct To Audience ℠ (DTA) model, empowering filmmakers, organizations, and talent to take control of their releases. As the world’s first end-to-end event management and audience engagement platform, GATHR seamlessly integrates film, talent, and venue booking; ticketing; merchandise sales; memberships; and in-person, virtual, and hybrid exhibitions. GATHR’s CRM enables creators and exhibitors to manage bookings, leverage their fanbases, mitigate financial risk, and monetize their passion and expertise. Pioneering Theatrical On Demand®, Partner VOD, Pay It Forward ℠ ticketing, Events On Demand, and Live Virtual Event Cinema since 2011, GATHR continues to lead the tech-driven event cinema market. Through The GATHR Foundation, its nonprofit arm, GATHR’s Pay It Forward ticketing model leverages tax-deductible donations to subsidize event ticketing and Video On Demand rentals, while Reel Engagement serves as a fiscal sponsor, enabling filmmakers to fund their marketing and distribution through tax-deductible donations.  Headquartered in the Greater Boston Area, with offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., GATHR has team members across the globe. Learn more at www.gathr.com.

*Special thanks to Emma Griffiths (EG PR) for press release and promotional images.

House Judiciary Committee deposition of former Special Counsel Jack Smith

**The following is a breakdown and key point summary of the 255 page deposition of Special Counsel Jack Smith before the House Judiciary Committee that took place behind closed doors on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 using the assistance of Notebook LM and include an online interview by legal analyst and political commentator Katie Phang.

In his deposition before congress Jack Smith describes the events of January 6th as a direct “attack on the structure of our democracy”. He emphasizes the physical toll of the day, noting that over 140 law enforcement officers were assaulted and more than 160 individuals later pleaded guilty to those assaults.

Smith argues that Donald Trump “preyed on the party allegiance” of his supporters and used “knowingly false claims of fraud” as a “through line” for his criminal efforts. According to Smith, Trump was aware in the days leading up to January 6th that his supporters were “angry,” yet he still directed them to the Capitol. He asserts that Trump “caused,” “exploited,” and found the violence “foreseeable”.

Special Council Smith explains that participants in the “fake elector” scheme attempted to “mimic the procedures” of the Electoral Count Act to create an appearance of legitimacy, even when they knew they were not the lawful electors.

He notes that some participants in the elector scheme felt they had been “misled” or were told the certificates would only be used if Trump won in litigation, yet the co-conspirators used them regardless.

Many witnesses against Trump were his own political allies and Republicans who eventually put their “allegiance to the country before the party”.

Retribution and the Impact of Pardons

On the message of pardons, Smith explicitly states that pardoning individuals who committed violence on January 6th “does not, in my view,” make the country safer. He believes it sends a damaging message to law enforcement, whom he describes as “heroes” for defending the Capitol.

Risk of Recidivism: Smith suggests that some individuals pardoned for their actions on January 6th may continue to commit additional crimes, as the communities they would otherwise be separated from are no longer protected by their incarceration.

Retribution Campaigns: Smith characterizes current efforts to fire or investigate those involved in the January 6th prosecutions as a “retribution campaign” intended to chill public service and subvert the rule of law.

The Role of Deceit

The investigation concluded that the attack was part of a “criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power”.

Smith likens the deception of participants to “affinity fraud,” where a leader builds trust with a specific group (in this case, his political party) and then “preys” on that trust to defraud them into supporting an illegal outcome.

Accountability

Jack Smith’s testimony in the transcript explicitly identifies Donald Trump as the individual primarily accountable for the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Smith states that President Trump was “by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy”. He asserts that the attack on the Capitol “does not happen without him“. When asked directly by investigators who should be held accountable for the circumstances surrounding the event, Smith answers, “who should be accountable for this is Donald Trump“.

Smith testified that the investigation developed “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Donald Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results and prevent the lawful transfer of power. He confirmed he believed this evidence was enough to “obtain and sustain a conviction”.

Traumatic grief and a resolve to survive

We couldn’t sleep after we watched HOMEGROWN. It triggered the fear and uncertainty we felt during the violence and hateful rhetoric leading up to and through J6. Whether PTSD or traumatic grief, there is deep sorrow about our nations current reality and we weren’t really sure we could cover this. It’s too tangled and still ongoing. But when the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released the transcript and video of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s closed-door testimony on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2025, we knew that we had to.

***Research by the Brennan Center for Justice shows how racist beliefs enabled lies about voter fraud to spread in a series of articles on their website. Read more about it HERE.