What’s this documentary about? It’s about two hours — and so much more. Decades before influencers, content creators, and YouTubers came to rule our screens and dictate trends, one of America’s greatest free-speech experiments was born: public-access television. A counterpoint to commercial mainstream media, public-access television allowed the general public to create programming free from censorship. As this Sundance standout illustrates, any one (or anything) could be a star. 

David Shadrack Smith’s riveting documentary traces the evolution of one such underground free-for-all: Manhattan Cable Television. New York City’s community-made programming reshaped local pop culture, music, and art, and allowed free-speech pioneers, including the makers of the groundbreaking queer series The Emerald City, to take control of their own media representation. But this unrestricted creativity and unfettered access also sparked heated debates about First Amendment rights, making Public Access — and the many wild, weird, and transgressive shows on display — incredibly timely.