Mike Shum: When we started building this project in 2020, the original intent wasn't to track perspectives for the elections, so much as tracking perspectives across the country in this collective unknown. At that time, the pandemic and the lockdowns really equalize everyone's vision for the future in that no one knew what was going to happen next. And so, when we built our team, I think this is the part that really informs what we have today. When we build our team, what was important was so many of the cinematographers and filmmakers collaborate with lived in the same locality as the characters and the contributors. And so, in a way, the time that we took to forge that trust and foster that trust allowed us to have an ongoing conversation about fears, hopes, political divisions and divisiveness and really be able to see through each other's silos as it were, and literally for our filmmakers to be in the living rooms with them. So., that was in 2020. Now in 2024, the mission shifted a little bit to sort of say, well, now that we've gone through the pandemic together, what has the last four years looked like and how does that inform the way we look at not only this coming election, but the future? And I think that's been, it's not what we originally intended when we started the project, but what we found was a community of people we've been able to connect with over time, longitudinally, to be able to talk about issues that sometimes can be difficult to talk about politics, especially in this case.
Patrick Center: There's a psychology. You don't have to go so far back in time. Perspectives can change quickly. What are we learning about the human psyche here as we travel from COVID to today?
Mike Shum: You know, personally, I do see some common perspectives over the past four years since we last visited our contributors. And some of which is a sort of, we wouldn't call it a transformation or a shift in focus, so much as an intensification. I do think, maybe not even intensification, I would even go as far to say that the perspective that were shared with us felt more personal and more forthright about where they were coming from. I think that was partly because of the trust that we built over time. One of the more dramatic, sort of actions one of our contributors really took hold in the past four years, Royce White, who was one of the activists leading a protest through downtown Minneapolis. He eventually became a politician and actually won the nomination from the Republican Party to run for Senate in Minnesota. And I think people would say, oh, wow, he's changed a great deal. But even back then, his views in terms of his perspective on his, call it his distrust in institutions and for the interest in rolling back government involvement, I was not surprised so much as I was still shocked. by his pursuit of a Republican candidacy. So, you have that example in terms of shifts in action that intensified off of the heels of what he was leading back in 2020. But in terms of the wider perspectives across the characters we've talked to, I think there's a degree of exhaustion. I mean, I think about Amy Garner, who she and her family moved to the middle of Missouri, rural Missouri, to be away from the cities and communities. They want to find refuge among their animals, their goats. And then you have Tayo Daniel, who was building a nonprofit as well as leading protests, but now he's really interested in community involvement and education. I think what you see in a lot of these people is that they're thinking not only about their own generation, but their children's generation and their grandchildren's generation. So, it's hard to say that there's been big change so much as hopes and fears really is transferred over to what the future does look like for not only their community, but their families.
Patrick Center: Topically, you talk about values, value shifts through that time. What do you see?
Mike Shum: I think, for example, and this is maybe too quick of a specific answer, but when you see Tayo Daniel and Royce White, they lived through the lockdown and racial reckoning at the center of racial reckoning when George Floyd was murdered. They were in Minneapolis. And so, the intensity of politics and activism was really quite alive in the Twin Cities, not only at that time, but in the years that followed too. So, in a way, I think the center of that and through the events really influenced their behavior over time. But then across the country, you do see families like Mark Curtis in Beaver Dam, Virginia, which is more rural Virginia, where he is with his family, and he has a small business where he's not as close to what is happening in D.C. or New York or L.A. At the same time, these issues very much matter to him, and he doesn't even find solidarity with either party. He is likely going to vote for the Libertarian third party candidate. So, I'd say you do see in terms of geography, a lot of the people who are not a part of the municipal centers of the country, you know, do feel not as connected to the wider political establishment. However, in terms of ethnic racial identity, you do see a pattern in some capacity, say with Carran Lewis, Tayo Daniel, to an extent, Brian Moore, who's in Oregon, they're speaking from different parts of the country, and yet they do see value as well as hope in Kamala Harris as a candidate. They haven't committed as clearly, except for, I believe, Carran Lewis, to voting for her on camera. But you sort of see that there is an admiration as well as an acknowledgement for progress with her candidacy. Same with Christine Mann, I think she's unabashed about her perspective. And so, I'd say geography, restorative. You see a little bit of that influence, but for the most part, the people we've been following, I think what we found in them, they're quite thoughtful, they're quite reflective, and I think they're interested in welcoming introspection with us in conversation.
Patrick Center: Groups are not monolithic. When we talk about geography, it's urban core, suburban, rural areas, but they're not one voice.
Mike Shum: Right.
Patrick Center: As you're seeing. What's the big picture takeaway from this film and what do you want viewers to be looking for or to understand?
Mike Shum: I think one of the most powerful scenes in the most current iteration of this film is when you see all of the contributors watching the Trump and Harris debate. We put them together in such a way that allows you to see their perspectives unfold in this time reflecting on this current presidential election. I think it's important for everybody to consider what is it like to sit in the living room of someone who you may not normally connect with, whose views may very much different from yours, and yet we are giving audiences an opportunity to see from multiple perspectives that can be either part of a mirror, a mirror, or a diametrically opposed perspective that you can still connect with. And so if I were to sort of compel audiences to think about a takeaway is that you really want to offer and invite people a degree of empathy when it comes to perspectives here. Especially during this election time, especially from people who see how divided the country is in a lot of ways politically, but they themselves are connecting on a project that we've been working with them for four years now. And I think they see the value in connecting with each other.
Patrick Center: Frontline presents American Voices 2024. It airs tonight (Tuesday, October 29th, 2024) at 10 o'clock on WGVU Public Television. Director Mike Schumm, thank you so much.
Mike Shum: Thank you, Patrick. Appreciate you.