The Story
HERE THEY COME is a feature documentary following photographers covering the 2024 U.S. election and its aftermath. The film is a behind the scenes journey on the campaign trail to the White House and Capitol Hill as this unprecedented American political moment is confronted. This film renews the call to how vital visual journalism is in holding truth to power.
Photographers provide the visual oversight of democracy. Without them the world is in peril of being blind. In the tradition of Alan Pakula’s All The President’s Men on its 50th anniversary, HERE THEY COME renews the call to how vital journalism is in holding truth to power. This film provides a behind the scenes view of the battle to control what we see and the world’s ability to accurately comprehend what is true.
Photojournalist and filmmaker Louie Palu has been covering American domestic and foreign policy for over 30 years. Palu's award-winning work has documented some of the world's most urgent flash points. HERE THEY COME finds Palu turning his lens on two of his fellow documentarians: Ken Light, a Nixon-era photographer who was surveilled by the FBI and his former student Wesaam al-Badry, an Iraqi refugee, now US citizen. Together they travel across the American Midwest and to Washington DC to document the 2024 election and Trump’s return to power.
However, what they find are new levels of control over access and manipulation of visual messaging. As the President’s retribution against his perceived enemies begins, Louie, Ken and Wesaam watch as the administration subverts the concept of truth and challenges the very nature of their vital work.
Most of the film is verite taking viewers through the halls of Capitol Hill, The White House and only feet away from the President and the most powerful political figures in America. Ken and Wesaam provide insights related to their experiences and how American domestic and foreign policy has shaped their critique of government. Photographers like Ken and Wesaam are on the frontlines of democracy and are synonymous with American political life. Understanding visual journalism has never been more important as freedom of the press is under attack and what’s at stake when the ability to see is challenged.
The Characters
The film follows two documentary photographers and how their experiences have shaped their vital work.
The Photojournalism Community
Ken Light has been a documentary photographer for over 50 years, getting his start covering the anti-Vietnam War movement at Ohio University.
Ken has firsthand experience with the lengths the U.S. government is willing to undertake to control, undermine and intimidate the media.
As a veteran photographer covering the Nixon administration, he was surveilled by the FBI, and had his phone wiretapped.
Wesaam Al-Badry is an Iraqi refugee and Ken’s former student. Wesaam has lived the effects of American policy, both at home and abroad.
Now a U.S. citizen, the 2024 election promised both hope and volatility, as he and Ken traverse the country to document the turbulent political moment.
Over 90 photojournalists and documentary photographers appear in the film providing a rare insiders view of the community of visual journalists who cover the daily news and U.S. government on Capitol Hill, The White House and on the road on the campaign trail.