CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND

CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND tells the story of how one man rose against seemingly insurmountable obstacles and shaped the future of modern California.

Rather than lionizing Brown as "the Architect of the Golden State," the film looks critically at Pat Brown’s odyssey to build a "Super State," raising issues that transcend eras and geographic borders.

As the Vietnam War shifts the nation's consciousness, Brown is caught in the middle of the cataclysmic 1960s, with the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, fiery race riots in Los Angeles, and the United Farm Workers Movement in the Central Valley. Brown's epic battle against capital punishment unleashes an international uproar. Finally, a telegenic Ronald Reagan steps onto the world stage promising to sweep all that away. Brown's tenure ends as a new "era of limits" begins.

Told from his granddaughter’s perspective, Brown's struggle to overcome humble beginnings reveals a dynamic American Dream story — a compelling journey that unfolds through interviews, archival footage, home movies, and cinema verite as the filmmaker wrestles with the inherited optimism of her grandfather's legacy.

The issues Brown faced have urgent relevance now — in the West and nationwide: failing education, crumbling infrastructure, gridlocked traffic, and water threatening to become the next oil. This intimate portrait of Pat Brown has the power to ignite optimism and provide a template for what we can and should expect from leaders today.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

This High Definition and 35mm feature film will reach audiences through national broadcast and film festivals. In addition, CALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND will travel with a companion educational curriculum. A community outreach plan is being developed with partners like the Water Education Foundation, which has won two Emmys for their educational documentaries. Our curriculum will encourage students to explore issues of leadership and civic engagement around the critical concerns in their community. Web-based workshops will especially appeal to a generation that expects a multi-sensory experience. We will engage youth by inspiring them and guiding them to make a personal response that is relevant to their community.