Inspired by reporting in The Atlantic magazine, award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger sends documentary teams across America to embed with subjects who have rejected mainstream narratives, including the shocking real-time stories of a beloved rural Pennsylvania pizza shop owner facing twenty years in prison for her role in the January 6th riots, an anti-vaccine activist pushing a dangerous fake cure for Covid-19, and a mother divorcing her husband because she fears his beliefs put their children's lives in danger.
From this intimate viewpoint, Shadowland, a deeply immersive six-part docu-series, reveals how conspiracy theories have moved from the margins to the mainstream, exploring how people come to their beliefs, and what makes these theories so alluring. The series is a shocking wakeup call about the dangerous influence of conspiracy thinking on the functioning of our democracy, as families, friends, and the nation are increasingly being torn apart.
