HIFF: A Filmmaker Documents the MAGA Movement From the Inside

Among the films screening this weekend at the Hamptons International Film Festival is a documentary that revisits the events leading up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. While the film, titled “Homegrown,” takes viewers back to that turbulent period four years ago and the violent efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, as we barrel toward the final weeks of the 2024 election, it’s worth noting that this film also offers something of a stark warning.

That’s because many of those at the most extreme edges of the MAGA movement haven’t gone away (despite the fact many are now in prison), nor have they accepted the fact that the January 6 insurrection was based on a lie. If anything, some have grown even more radicalized, more determined and more organized in the last four years.

In “Homegrown,” New York-based filmmaker Michael Premo offers an insider’s look at a small slice of the MAGA movement. Throughout the summer of 2020 and into the fall and early winter, Premo embedded with three extremists of the movement. Two of them, Thad Cisneros, a charismatic Latino activist and father of four from Texas, and Randy Ireland, an Air Force veteran from Brooklyn, are members of the Proud Boys, the all-male, far-right militant organization that isn’t shy about resorting to violence when need be. Though not technically a Proud Boy himself, the film’s third subject, Chris Quaglin, a 37-year-old electrician and father to be from New Jersey, splits his time preparing for the arrival of his son and what he envisions as a coming civil war.

With his camera in hand, throughout 2020 Premo documented the trio’s activities, from stockpiling military supplies to taking part in “Trump Trains” (including here on Long Island) during a tumultuous time. The film opens in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, which formed in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, and in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as a contentious presidential race sits on the horizon.

When asked in a recent phone interview how he managed to gain the trust of his subjects, Premo responded, “My work is covering social moments. As a result, I kind of understand how social movements function. In 2018, I started going to rallies and slowly started to meet people.

“I think I was sensitive to the broader discontent where they felt like we’re living in a system where banks and billionaires benefit at the expense of the working person,” he added. “That understanding led to it.”

Back in 2018 when Premo first started making connections with Trump supporters, Donald Trump was still in the White House and those big banks and billionaires may have been seen as the enemy, but the movement’s foe has long been illusive and ephemeral, shape shifting to fit the preferred narrative at any given moment.

“Everything happening in 2020 put a face on their frustrations, and encapsulated the thinking,” said Premo. “Trump directed the anger. He names an enemy. When he came down that escalator [at Trump Tower in 2015] and named all sorts of groups in that initial speech, that was the threat.

“In all the projects I work on, there is a political element, but this one is in this moment,” he added of the access he gained to his subjects. “They’re suspicious of media and journalists, they’re suspicious of those who want to interview them. I think we were lucky.”

It’s worth noting that Premo is Black and he points out that one of the misnomers about the Proud Boys is that they are, by definition, white supremacists. While there are certainly plenty of those among their ranks, in the course of making his film, Premo discovered that the group includes members who are much more ethnically diverse than many outsiders might realize. In fact, before being convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Capitol attack, Enrique Tarrio, who is of Afro-Cuban descent, was the chairman of the Proud Boys.

“Contrary to belief, there are Black and Hispanic members. I think the media, in some ways, is misleading — liberals suspect they are all white supremacists, but increasingly they are multi-cultural,” explained Premo of the Proud Boys’ ranks. “Many are attracted to it and are frustrated because they are looking for power and want to be accepted in their community. That attracted these folks in ways which it hadn’t before.”

In “Homegrown,” what ultimately unites the Proud Boys is their claim that they are “western chauvinists.” But what exactly does that mean?

“It means that the West is the best — western civilization is the best,” says Thad Cisneros in the film. “That’s our opinion.”

There is an interesting scene Premo’s film where Cisneros, who is Latino, teams up with Jacarri Kelley, the leader of a Black Lives Matter group in northern Utah, after the two find a common cause in the issue of racial profiling by the police.

“Thad and Jacarri have a fascinating moment. Here’s this activist in Utah, a conservative area, who sees the need to go outside her silo and address a problem,” Premo explained. “Thad had also been a subject of racial profiling and in his mind, it’s a systemic problem. Despite their different orientation, they identified a shared understanding of law enforcement and the need to reform it.

“It shows that unlikely allies can be effective.”

One of the common enemies and constant threats vocalized by the subjects in “Homegrown” is the universal disdain for Antifa, which they see as their primary enemy throughout the film. That becomes evident in Premo’s footage shot at a rally on the streets in Washington D.C. on the evening of December 12, 2020, after Trump supporters have learned that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a Texas lawsuit contesting the election results of other states, dooming Trump’s chances to stay in the White House.

Premo films Randy Ireland as he engages with a young man on a bike, asking if he is “Antifa.” The young man responds that, yes, of course he is Antifa, meaning he’s anti-fascist, not that he’s a member of any organized group by that name. But soon, other Proud Boys surround the young man and begin to aggressively shove him and stomp on his bike before police intervene and he is able to ride off.

“There is no Antifa group — it’s a perennial bogeyman,” said Premo.

The problem, of course, that it’s easy to manipulate the message and the masses through perceived nonexistent threats. Antifa is a word heard far less often in 2024 than it was in 2020, and as we near election day, the targets of right wing extremists now appear to be immigrants (both “legal” and “illegal”) along with single women, the LGBTQ+ community and non-Christians, to some extent.

“Homegrown” culminates on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Premo’s footage of Chris Quaglin, the New Jersey father to be, clearly illustrates his aggression against the police that day. Intercut with his own footage is the police body camera video showing Quaglin in action.

“It took a while to get that from the U.S. attorney’s office,” Premo explained. “There was an effort to make available to the public all the evidence that was introduced in the courts.”

As for Quaglin, his son, Nathan, was born in February 2021. In April 2021, Quaglin was arrested for his actions at the Capitol on January 6, and held in custody until May of this year, when he was convicted on 14 counts, including several felonies. He is currently serving 12 years in a maximum security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. It’s one of the longest sentences handed out for a January 6 insurrectionist.

While he feels that Quaglin needs to be held accountable, Premo also feels the current justice system is broken and in need of reform. He suspects that even though many January 6 insurrectionists are now behind bars, their belief that the system is stacked against them has not gone away.

“The situation seems rife for an escalation of violence,” conceded Premo. “I think if this was a foreign country, the State Department would issue a travel advisory for the fall and into January.

“I think they remain firmly convinced of what the problem is,” he said. “Even if Trump goes away, it won’t go away.”

“Homegrown,” a documentary directed by Michael Premo, screens at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Saturday, October 5, at 11:30 a.m. at the East Hampton UA5 and again on Sunday, October 6, at 5:45 p.m. at East Hampton UA4. For tickets, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.