A spirit of youth takes flight in ‘The Youth Governor’

Above : The documentary “The Youth Governor” is slated to open Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre. (Photo/Blumhouse Productions)

In 2020, a documentary titled “Boys State” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It ended up winning the festival’s U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize.

Directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, the film follows several of the 1,000 boys who congregated in Austin, Texas, to learn about the legislative process. And they learn by doing, which allows us to see their individual motivations – and attitudes.

Nell Minnow of RogerEbert.com wrote, “In this little microcosm you see not only a portrait of some serious-minded youths, but how their world views, morals and political beliefs have been molded by what’s happening in the country.”

Fast forward to this week, and the Magic Lantern Theatre is scheduled to open a similar kind of film on Friday. Only instead of just boys, “The Youth Governor” includes the whole range of genders. Set in California, and directed by Jaron and Matthew Halmy, the film documents the YMCA Youth and Government program involving some 4,000 teenagers doing pretty much the same thing as the Texas boys.

As critic Nell Minnow explains, the teens “spend four months setting up their own version of the state government, running for election as ‘youth governor,’ debating policies, legislating, considering bills, and even proposing amendments to the state constitution and making rulings as judges.”

Minnow added this: “One reason the participants are so devoted to Youth and Government is the chance to spend time with other teenagers who share their passion for social change. They have not been discouraged by the disdain of their classmates. More important, they have not been discouraged by the failures of our political system.”

If that attitude doesn’t provide a glimmer of hope for the future, I don’t know what will.