Details
Filmed in striking black and white across the US over the four years of Trump's first term in office, The Great Experiment is a stunning feat of observational filmmaking, taking us into the lives of every day Americans.
The title references George Washington calling the establishment of the new US Government ‘the last great experiment’ for promoting human happiness. Directors Stephen Maing and Eric Daniel Metzgar set out to appraise this experiment during a pivotal period of time, taking in a vast, complicated country that exists at the intersection of many kinds of American experience.
With rare and intimate access, the camera moves across an extraordinary range of scenes: Gays for Trump; ICE arrests and deportations; flustered Antifa activists; and migrants navigating a country whose welcome has grown uncertain. It witnesses Civil War reenactors summoning the same rhetorical reasoning as Confederate monuments protesters.
The Great Experiment is an epic poem in documentary form – a mirror held to a nation at war with its own reflection, asking not who is right, but whether the experiment itself can survive.
Screening followed by a Q&A with director Stephen Maing.
Playing as part of the LDNDOCS 2026 festival.
Screening times and booking
Please note: There are only 5 mins of trailers before our screenings.
Prices
Adult: £13.5
Senior: £10
Student: £10
Please note: There are only 5 mins of trailers before our screenings.
Prices
Adult: £13.5
Senior: £10
Student: £10