The warning lights are flashing in the world’s greatest democracy.

But as voters nationwide go to the polls in 2024 in a high-stakes presidential election, the people of Portland, Oregon, are embarking on an optimistic, ambitious experiment in self-governance -- a top-to-bottom overhaul of their city government, a dramatic expansion of their city council, a new ranked-choice voting system, and the entry of a wave of dynamic newcomers to the halls of power.

Can this innovative, iconoclastic city show the way forward for a polarized country?

Compared to many of America’s great cities, Portland is still in its adolescence -- relatively young, always changing, always energetic, with joys and growing pains. In the last quarter century alone the city’s national identity has evolved from from iconoclastic blue-collar riverport to affordable bohemian oasis to flashpoint for the country’s civil rights struggles and center of national debates on drug and housing policies.

Over the course of 2024, we will follow the campaigns, staffers, volunteers, outgoing civic leaders, election officials, local press, and ordinary community members as this American city wrestles with not just a diverse new wave of leaders but an impending new structure of government.

Central to this story will be the candidates themselves, diverse in race, age (from early 20s to 70s), gender and orientation, and economic background. The vast majority have never held elected office before, all but guaranteeing the city will be governed by a fresh wave of talent.

THE EXPERIMENT will center the human, sometimes messy, always inspiring moments of Portland’s landmark election year. Without narration, talking-head interviews, or on-screen text, the viewer will be immersed in the textures and the rhythms of life as it is being lived.

Some scenes will last a few seconds while others might go on for five minutes or more. The camera will remain observational, humble, but of course never entirely dispassionate. The camera, like the eye, will be drawn to moments of beauty, of passion, of humor, and of human frailty.

The edit will capture the spirit of this great living city, reflecting the diversity of the community’s politics and not taking any particular side for or against any candidate or cause.

Nathan Williams’s films have played the Seattle International Film Festival, Northwest Filmmakers Festival, Northwest Film Center, Northwest Film Forum, Slamdance Film Festival, on public television, Alaska Airlines, and other festivals worldwide. His feature If There’s a Hell Below won Best Cinematography at the Bend Film Festival. He co-founded the Portland-based nonprofit People’s Town Hall. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Mia Bruno is a producer and distribution/marketing consultant. Her recent projects include the Oscar and BAFTA-winning documentary Navalny, Sundance hit King Coal, and upcoming “Reading Rainbow” documentary, Butterfly in the Sky. Mia is a regular speaker and mentor at festivals including DOC NYC and IDFA. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Initial shooting began in January of 2024 and accelerate over the course of the spring and summer.

The production ethos will be one of respect, minimal disturbance to the events and ongoing life of the subjects, and flexibility. We live in this community and, while we strive to be as truthful as possible in its depiction, we will always be community members first and documentarians second.

Busier locations will require two cameras, others will be captured with only one. Most days will feature a 2-person crew, entirely local. On Election Day itself we hope to enlist half a dozen or more camera crews to cover Election Night parties and other simultaneous breaking moments. Editing and sound mixing will be ongoing through principal photography, with a full rough cut finished by March 2025.

This is a film for all Americans who hope to keep the fire of democracy burning, a celebration of the persistent spirit of democracy in this country, endlessly reinventing itself. Especially after a national election that could see dramatic rollbacks of civil rights and democratic norms after 2024, it will be vital to remind and inspire audience members that a single election outcome can’t extinguish this country’s deep muscle memory of liberty and self-governance.

For our distribution and impact, we will start with the traditional model of building the film’s profile and word of mouth through film festivals, both domestic and international. Though the prospect of being picked up by a distributor is always enticing (with a particular target being public television), we are realistic in today's fractured marketplace. Following in the footsteps of films like Boys’ State (McBaine, Moss), American Factory (Reichert, Bognar) and City Hall (Wiseman),, we envision a small theatrical, consisting of one-off event screenings starting in Portland, and expanding through other key cities to amplify the film through reviews, (LA, NY, Bay Area, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, D.C., etc.) The Portland screening will be accompanied by a town hall event with community leaders -- and some of the Portlanders featured in the film -- in a conversation about our city’s unique strengths, challenges, and reasons for hope.

City-led candidate orientation sessions

Candidate fundraisers and house parties

Naturalization ceremony at the Hatfield Courthouse

Voter registration at the DMV

Campaign volunteers canvassing door-to-door

Outgoing city council meetings

Mayoral candidate town hall

City council candidate debates

Local journalists interviewing a candidate

Local org and media endorsement interviews

Construction of new city council chambers

County elections department designing ballots

Ballots being printed

A few Portland households filling out their ballots

In-person voting locations on election day