Where were you in 2020?

In 2019, filmmakers Michael Greene and Leslie Raymond moved from California to North Carolina with an ambitious idea: to document a single American community over the course of an entire year.

Michael, a filmmaker, and Leslie, a producer with a career in commercial production, were interested in creating a nonpartisan portrait of American life that moved beyond headlines, assumptions, and political caricatures. After exploring communities across the state, they chose Alamance County, North Carolina, a place whose mix of urban and rural life, industries, and perspectives reflected many of the conversations taking place across the country.

On December 31, 2019, they began filming.

The original project was conceived as a year-long observational documentary following political candidates, teachers, farmers, small business owners, and other residents as they navigated the routines and challenges of daily life. The goal was to create a nuanced portrait of a community by spending time with people across the political and social spectrum.

As 2020 unfolded, the project took on an unexpected significance. Historic events reshaped daily life around the world, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a nationwide reckoning over racial equity, and a consequential presidential election. Greene and Raymond continued filming. What began as an exploration of local life became a record of a community living through a pivotal moment in history.

By remaining rooted in the lives of Alamance County residents, the filmmakers sought to tell a global story through a local lens, capturing how world-changing events were experienced and interpreted by citizens in "the county next door."  

The result is Alamance County, 2020: an eight-hour, 14-chapter observational documentary chronicling one North Carolina community through one of the most turbulent years in modern American history.