The Proud Boys Next Door
Michael Premo was gasping for air. It was January 6, 2021, and Premo and his partner, fellow filmmaker Rachel Falcone, were crushed against a wall in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the US Capitol. Between the gas mask and the body armor compressing his torso, Premo was struggling to breathe. Then Premo made eye […]
On January 6, 2021, Michael Premo and his partner, and fellow filmmaker Rachel Falcone, were trapped in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the US Capitol. Amidst the chaos, Premo made eye contact with a fellow Proud Boy, who wedged them free. At that moment, Premo realized the gravity of the historical event they were witnessing. This became the climax of Premo's three-year journey to document the far-right nationalist Proud Boys - Chris Quaglin, Thad Cisneros, and Randy Ireland - before and after the 2020 election.
The documentary, Homegrown, which recently won a 2026 duPont-Columbia Award, explores Cisneros' attempts at bridge-building with Black Lives Matter, Ireland's role as an organizer, and Quaglin's radicalization. It is a verité film, showing the ordinary texture of the men's daily lives alongside violence and without narration or talking heads.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
