In the last decade, book bans have become something of a blood sport. Nowhere is that more apparent than at local school board meetings, where public commenters face off with elected board members over students’ right to read. The 2024 documentary An American Pastoral covers an election cycle for one such school board and its ties to Christian Nationalism, offering insight to how fascist ideology takes root at the local level.
Despite the majority of book challenges hailing from a small but vocal minority, book bans have become a hot button issue in the U.S. at the national level. Educators and librarians face harassment and death threats for fighting book challenges, the majority of which target books written by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors. Instead of being trusted to organize and provide age-appropriate content based on years of education, these pillars of community are accused of feeding “pornography” to kids and of indoctrinating them into “transgenderism” and “anti-White racism.”
All of these talking points are presented in An American Pastoral, a candid look at the deep red Elizabethtown Area School District of Elizabethtown, Penn.
The film, directed by French documentarist Auberi Edler, chronicles events after four moderate Republicans resign from the school board in 2023, leaving five far-right Republicans still in power. Democratic candidates campaign hard to fill these vacancies against both a group of moderate Republicans and a group of Christian Nationalists from the far-right extremist group FreePA.
While the Democratic candidates campaign for the freedom to read and open access to age-appropriate books for all students, both in the classroom and in the school library, the far-right candidates double down on targeting books by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors, espousing white supremacist ideals, and pushing to keep all “objectionable” content under lock and key.
By the end of the documentary—spoiler alert—it’s apparent that the Democratic candidates and their supporters have significant work to do if they want to flip the board and reverse its harmful censorship policies.
An American Pastoral is a stark look at the stakes of school board elections
An American Pastoral kicks off with FreePA candidates going door-to-door to ask for support in the upcoming primary election. Since 2023 is an off-cycle election year, turnout is expected to be low, but of more concern to these campaigners is the possibility of so-called Moderates being elected, which would potentially tip the school board out of their favor.
The first person they talk to, an elderly man, says he’s concerned about “gender identity,” seemingly as a concept unto itself. He then listens as he’s told that the books being offered to students in middle and high school are “downright pornography.” He isn’t offered and doesn’t ask for proof, but takes this statement at face value.
This exchange sets the tone for the rest of the documentary, which is sparing in its use of music or montage shots. Director Edler presents conversations, events, speeches, and talking heads from both sides of the political divide seemingly without commentary, which forces audiences to engage with these ideas plainly.
The film ping-pongs between a conversation with high schoolers about the 2nd Amendment, a gun safety class for women, and a book club of white, elderly women who bemoan having to fight white supremacists again: “It’s worse than it was before. The scary thing is, they could win,” one says, after a brief conversation about how conservatives are twisting Critical Race Theory into something dangerous (which it is not).
An American Pastoral also chronicles church services, a conversation between people who participated in the January 6th insurrection in D.C., and several actual school board meetings. Public comment sessions at each meeting feature recurring voices, as well as a vote to implement Policy 109 (which board VP James R. Gilles Jr. petitioned to revise last year as it “doesn’t go far enough”) to lock away books allegedly containing sexually explicit content. In the documentary, the board votes unanimously to implement the policy, which forces parents to “opt-in” their children to be allowed to even pick up those books and look at them, let alone check them out from the school library.
If you’ve paid attention to the news at any point in the last decade, nothing in An American Pastoral is very shocking—but it is deeply disturbing. The fact that it doesn’t feel particularly manipulated by Edler or the film’s editors makes its message hit all the harder. School board meetings and decisions often fly under the radar—but decisions made at this level are incredibly high stakes, especially when U.S. politicians are attempting to legislate LGBTQ+ people (emphasis on trans people) out of existence and forcefully remove non-white immigrants and citizens alike.
What’s happened since An American Pastoral
Unlike other documentaries, An American Pastoral does not provide identification cards for its primary subjects, which makes its organization confusing—especially with two sets of Republican candidates running around. I don’t know why this choice was made, but it’s a major flaw in the film’s reporting.
One could argue that the ideas being espoused by these people are the actual subjects of the documentary, and therefore knowing everyone’s names and affiliations doesn’t matter, but I disagree. Understanding who is speaking from what point of view would make a huge difference without sacrificing the integrity of the film.
After watching, I looked into the current (2026) Elizabethtown Area School District school board and discovered that it is still entirely conservative, even after a 2025 election. Central figures from the documentary, Danielle Lindemuth, and her husband, Stephen T. Lindemuth, were seemingly elected as incumbent candidates in 2025. Current members will remain until 2027 or 2029.
Another central figure in An American Pastoral is four-time Democratic candidate Kristy Moore, who at one point addresses the outgoing board members in tears. Her campaign is rooted in not only giving schools the funds they need to provide top-tier education, but to allow access to materials representing a wide variety of viewpoints. This makes her dangerous, in the eyes of her conservative opponents and their supporters. Per Lancaster Online, Moore ran again in 2025, but has yet to be voted onto the school board.
Following An American Pastoral‘s premiere at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Penn. last October (right before the election), a local NBC News affiliate reported that viewers gasped in response to some of the scenes from the film, which makes sense for how how baldly the information is presented. An American Pastoral may not sway the majority of viewers on the issue of book bans, but hopefully it pushes audiences to consider the importance of school board elections and get involved in local politics—hopefully, for the better.
An American Pastoral will be available to stream and/or watch on VOD on Amazon Prime Video, Fandango At Home, iTunes, and leading cable outlets starting February 13.
