THE GREAT EXPERIMENT

2026 | US, Mexico | 100 mins.

What holds a people together when the story they tell about themselves begins to fracture? THE GREAT EXPERIMENT is an epic poem in documentary form – a mirror held to an American nation at war with its own reflection, asking not who is right, but whether the experiment itself can survive.

Filmed in striking black and white across the US over four consequential years, from 2017 to 2021, the film considers the results of what George Washington once called “our last great experiment” in democracy.

DIRECTED, EDITED + PRODUCED BY Stephen Maing, Eric Daniel Metzgar

PRODUCED BY Farihah Zaman

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Stephen Maing, Eric Daniel Metzgar

CINEMATOGRAPHERS Nathan Golon, Zac Manuel, Ray Whitehouse, Erik Ljung, Jason Outenreath, Amy Bench, Micah Garen

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY Anne Marie Stein, Richard MacMillan, Kirsten Johnson, Jon Levin, Agnes Mentre, Lyda Kuth

CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY Rachel Traub & Jihan Robinson

MUSIC BY Meredith Monk, Live Footage, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Che Chen & Ka Baird

COLOR GRADING Natacha Ikoli

DI/FINISHING Pierce Varous - Nice Dissolve

SOUND DESIGN & MIX Cesar Gonzales Jesus Arteaga

STORY PRODUCERS Maria Gambale, Jane Teeling

Film website + Upcoming Screenings

True/False Film Festival

CPH:DOX Film Festival - F:ACT Award Special Mention

Full Frame Film Festival

DC/DOX Film Festival

Independent Film Festival Boston