In a polarized America, where the dual forces of white supremacy and patriarchy threaten to further erode our democracy, a game-changing transformation is happening at the grassroots. As demographics rapidly shift towards a majority-minority, elections may be decided by Americans inspired to vote for the first time. Many of these voters come from communities of color—often poor, and largely immigrant—ignored by politicians and journalists alike. But a defiant group of women of color are claiming power by running for office and harnessing the political potential of the New American Majority.
AND SHE COULD BE NEXT, made by a team of women filmmakers of color, asks whether democracy itself can be preserved—and made stronger—by those most marginalized. By squarely centering race and gender in our story, we offer a more astute lens on America’s evolution.
Filmed through the 2018 election cycle and on into 2019, And She Could Be Next follows a dynamic slate of history-making candidates as they move from elections to governance: Stacey Abrams (GA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Lucy McBath (GA), Veronica Escobar (TX), Debra Haaland (NM), Maria Elena Durazo (CA), and Bushra Amiwala (IL).
We also follow the tireless community organizers of color around them, working to reinvent ideas of voter engagement. They are writing a new playbook for representative democracy where the target of their efforts shifts from a focus on reliable voters onto large segments of black, brown and immigrant communities who are not even registered to vote.
With up-close access, and a comprehensive lens, AND SHE COULD BE NEXT, bears witness to the birth of an intersectional movement of people of color, immigrants, youth, and progressives doing the most American thing possible: participating in the contact sport of true democracy.
As America looks forward to another high-stakes election, one in which Black, Latinx and Asian voters are prime constituencies, And She Could Be Next is a prescient glimpse inside the movement, and the incredible women of color leading the way.
