“A nation divided…over who belongs on a pedestal.”
Hi! I’m directing Monumental, a documentary about monuments in the American West. Above👆is the film’s “tagline,” the pithy summary hinting at what it’s about, in 10 words or less.
Then there’s the “logline,” a slightly longer summary offering more details without giving away too much of the plot:
“After protesters upend monuments, an American city reckons with its symbols of westward expansion. The unfolding fate of the sculptures pits artists and Indigenous activists against preservationists in Portland, Oregon, all set in a nation divided over who belongs on pedestals.”
Intrigued? There’s more! Over the next several weeks, I’ll share some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into making a feature-length doc.
I thought I’d begin today with how I came up with the idea.
Since my childhood, I’ve been drawn to the monumental spectacles of the American West and the roadside attractions, historical markers and landmarks that tell the story of westward expansion. For my 10th birthday, my parents gave me a camera. We traveled to New York City and I took dozens of photos of the Statue of Liberty, from all angles. (On film, of course. It was 1983.)
So when hundreds of monuments fell across the American West in the summer of 2020, I watched with keen interest as communities began an overdue reckoning with the region’s symbols of conquest, settlement, and westward expansion.
Huh, I thought, maybe there’s a movie here?
I was in the middle of another project, my first nonfiction book, Windfall, and a companion short documentary, To Be Rich. But I kept following what was happening with monuments—all over the West. And I started making plans to direct a documentary.
This photo is at the base of Rough Rider, a monument to Theodore Roosevelt toppled in 2020. For more background, read my 2022 piece for Stateline: “In Replacing Monuments, Communities Reconsider How the West Was Won.”