Out of many, one.

States of America is a series of documentary shorts, featuring one person in each of the 50 states in the Union.  

In the United States, you might be born one place, go to school or work in another, then pack it up and move somewhere else for a thousand different reasons of choice or circumstance. You might have been born in another country.  What is it that ties us to these places and makes us adopt them as our home?  How does our state affect who we are and how we identify ourselves?  What makes us from there?  In an increasingly fragmented time where identity, unity, and belonging are under scrutiny, States of America asks these questions in lyrical short documentaries, featuring everyday people as distinct as the physical and cultural landscapes they call home. By looking at several together, these films begin to portray a mosaic of America's famously emerging identity.

States of America is created and produced by Brad Barber, an Emmy nominated filmmaker recently named by Variety to its "10 Documentary Filmmakers To Watch" list, and best known for the PBS documentary Peace Officer.  He began filming States of America in 2009.  After chipping away at state after state during travel for other projects, with a variety of whatever camera he could get his hands on, he eventually found some amazing collaborators and began sharing the shorts here starting September 2017.

In 2019, KQED joined the team as presenting station and soon connected us with WORLD Channel, who broadcast 2 compilation episodes on their “Local, USA” program to partner stations nationwide. In 2020, WORLD Channel then released our first 29 state episodes, which we call PART ONE on their web platforms as well as PBS.org and the PBS app. Now we are working on PART TWO. Sign up for our email list or follow us on social media to stay tuned!