Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and young people in the United States. In 2023 there were over 43,000 deaths by firearm, more than half of which were suicides. There were also more than 36,000 life-altering injuries and 656 mass shootings that traumatized communities across the country. These shootings took place against a backdrop of everyday gun violence that often goes unreported in the news.
OUR KNOTTED GUN, a feature-length documentary film project, takes the mass shooting that occurred at Michigan State University on February 13, 2023 as its entry point for an exploration of this uniquely American epidemic in all its complexity.
It does so by documenting a range of responses by a diverse set of people who have decided that this American nightmare has to end. With the state of Michigan serving as the main stage for this social drama, our character-driven story is national in scope and set within a multicultural, global framework.
OUR KNOTTED GUN seeks to contribute to a fresh debate on gun violence and the intersecting factors that contribute to it. These include economic inequality and exploitation, structural racism and white supremacy, gender and domestic violence, a lack of access to health care and education, social isolation and exclusion, and a long history of imperialism and militarization.
Our film does not just focus on the tragedy of a single event or dwell solely in the trauma of survivors. Rather, it explores this public health crisis from the point of view of various individuals taking action to make change.
Seed funding for OUR KNOTTED GUN comes from a MSU Humanities & Arts Research Program Large-Scale Development Grant, which will support the first year of production.
Meet the Filmmakers
Scott Boehm is Assistant Professor of Spanish & Global Studies and Affiliated Faculty in the Film Studies Program at Michigan State University. Peter Johnston is an Academic Specialist and the Digital Media/Film Production Manager in MSU’s Film Studies Program.
Together they have co-produced two short documentary films on immigration issues that Boehm wrote & directed and Johnston filmed & edited: WHAT HAPPENS TO A DREAM DEFERRED: A SHORT FILM ABOUT DACA (2018) and WALKING FOR DED: A SHORT FILM ABOUT SANCTUARY (2019). Both short films were official selections at a variety of film festivals, where they won numerous awards. WHAT HAPPENED TO A DREAM DEFERRED is distributed by Pragda, the world’s leading educational distributor of Latin cinema, and it is available on demand via PRAGDA STREAM.
With the success of these short two films, Boehm and Johnston have established a socially engaged filmmaking partnership that has been recognized in various ways within the film industry. For his part, Boehm is nearing completion of filming 2015: SPAIN’S YEAR OF CHANGE?, his first feature-length documentary on contemporary Spanish politics. This film builds upon MADRID 2015: A DIGITAL FILM ARCHIVE OF SPAIN’S “YEAR OF CHANGE,” which he released in 2023. Johnston has most recently produced and edited the 30 minute documentary AFROFANTASTIC, now screening nationwide on PBS. He also wrote and directed the 2023 short fiction film GRBBR, his latest short film of many over the past decade.