“This Whole Movement is about Performance”: Daniel Lombroso on his Alt-Right Doc White Noise

White Noise, the first feature-length documentary from The Atlantic, often plays more like it was sprung from the mind of Christopher Guest. Director Daniel Lombroso, who’s traveled throughout the world to shoot award-winning shorts for the magazine’s website, exploring everything from Russian espionage to Israeli settlements, now trains his lens on the alt-right — specifically on three of its biggest stars. There’s Lauren Southern, who seems to be crafting herself into a sort of Ann Coulter for the YouTube generation. Also conspiracy theorist and sex blogger Mike Cernovich, who eventually dispenses with fascist ideology in favor of the more lucrative dietary supplements grift, a la Alex Jones. (I guess the sexy conspiracy theories market was a bust.) And then there’s the notorious Richard Spencer, who traded in his childhood dream of becoming an avant-garde theater director for a career in what can only be described as bizarre, racist and xenophobic performance art. (Honestly, I cannot watch Spencer give a speech without thinking of those old “Master Thespian” skits on SNL. That said, when it comes to avant-garde stunts, “Twinks4Trump,” the creation of Lucian Wintrich, who’s also featured in the film, is admittedly pure genius.)

A week prior to the film’s AFI Docs Film Festival virtual debut on June 20th, Filmmaker reached out to Lombroso to learn more about his four-year journey down the far-right rabbit hole.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.