Out of many, one.

Filmed from 2009 to 2026, 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 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 named by Variety to its "10 Documentary Filmmakers To Watch" list, and best known for the PBS documentary Peace Officer. 

Barber self-released the first few shorts here in 2017 before partnering with KQED in 2019 as a presenting station and WORLD Channel as a national public television distributor. In 2019, WORLD Channel broadcast 2 compilation episodes on their “Local, USA” program to partner stations nationwide. In 2020, WORLD Channel then released the first 29 state episodes (PART ONE) on their web platforms as well as PBS.org and the PBS app. Now we just completed PART TWO (episodes 30-50), which will release with all 50 shorts broadcast on national public television as interstitials starting fall 2026, and streaming on PBS.

Sign up for our email list or follow us on social media to stay tuned for where those will be released, during America’s 250th!