Kid Candidate is a hyper-local documentary offering a realistic look at modern-day politics in America, through the eyes of 24-year-old Hayden Pedigo, the unlikely candidate for Amarillo City Council.
SXSW Film Festival (March 16-20, 2021) is kicking off today and running online after a cancelled 2020 edition due to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic. As part of the rich film program of this year’s SXSW, we have enjoyed discovering Kid Candidate, a feature documentary by up-and-coming filmmaker Jasmine Stodel, produced by Gunpowder & Sky in association with XTR.
Kid Candidate is set in the town of Amarillo, Texas, where 24-year-old artist and experimental musician Hayden Pedigo decides to run for Amarillo City Council, after his Harmony Korine inspired spoof campaign video went viral.
Nothing could have fated Hayden Pedigo for local politics. Yet, over the course of the film, we witness this 24-year-old with a lack of self-confidence becoming serious about his campaign and understanding that it might be meaningful for him and the community. In this context, the film chronicles the evolution of the campaign and one is able to discover the local area through the eyes of the film’s main protagonist. By successfully capturing Hayden Pedigo’s journey through the election campaign, director Jasmine Stodel offers us an exclusive inside look at the behind the scenes of politics, as well as at what everything is takes for a neophyte to make it to the City Council.
Hayden Pedigo is at times funny, whimsical, shy, visionary and altruistic. Stepping in in the political arena as a rookie makes his campaign hugely refreshing and feels so authentic. What might be best about Kid Candidate is that, in parallel with the thrill and suspense around the outcome of the election, the film sets about exploring contemporary issues of modern-day America such as political disengagement or distrust, and the wrenching socioeconomic inequalities raging in a lot of American cities.
By showing people running for City Council exclusively in their own interest, by highlighting the geographical and political gap between the haves and the have-nots, by laying bare the cronyism and opacity of a corporate-backed outgoing candidate, the film offers a crude, pragmatic look at the world of politics. Candidate Hayden Pedigo grapples with this harsh reality but manages to create a momentum for discussion, proposals, and, in the end, he manages to bring together a large amount of disillusioned people. Hayden Pedigo rediscovers the value of social debate and constructive thinking, redefines politics, and experiments democracy in its pure state. “Just get them to vote would be a major step”, as he puts it in the film, regarding his fellow Amarillo inhabitants.
Conventional in form, but well-crafted, Jasmine Stodel’s Kid Candidate captures with a light deftness and no sense of intrusion the adventure of a young man who experiments the benefits and impact of fighting for one’s vision. He takes the lead and shows his fellow citizens the power of voicing one’s opinions, and building a truly collective political agenda. The film becomes touching and riveting when Hayden Pedigo becomes convinced of the value of what he is achieving, no matter the outcome of the election. Hayden becomes ambitious and feels like he has the power to introduce a new way of recreating social links and doing politics: “I wan’t to change the way it’s done completely”.
With empathy and curiosity, director Jasmine Stodel crafts a touching, pragmatic and powerful contemporary film. By doing so, she contributes to supporting a more authentic way of doing politics that gives a voice to the voiceless and creates an environment for everyone to get opportunities and a decent life. Ending socio-spatial segregation in America, being bold enough to involve minorities, as well as getting the trust of people burnt out of politics back will take a lot of Hayden Pedigos across the country, but from what we see in the film, we cannot wait to witness that!
We wish to thank Laura McGregor for her excellent PR work.
