Lynden

In July 2020, the small, conservative, majority-White town of Lynden, Washington, faced its first-ever racial justice march. After church leaders and conservatives mobilize, nearly 1,000 people attend, half of whom are Trump-supporting counter-protesters, with many carrying signs, guns, and American flags. Amid the tension, an organizer of the march stands on a bench and speaks through a megaphone: “My name is Amsa. I’m 17 years old, and I was adopted from Ethiopia by a White family. I’ve experienced racism growing up in Lynden.” Lynden follows Amsa over the next 12 months through her last year of high school, along with a cast of characters grappling with the fallout from the march. Among them is Wylin, a proud Christian Nationalist who attends every political rally in the region with his outdated camcorder to capture the “conservative movement.” Though Wylin and Amsa never formally meet, their paths cross several times in moments that highlight the ideological divides within the community. As tensions build towards the 2020 presidential election, Lynden captures a small town at a crossroads, striving to understand and heal its deep-seated divisions.