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On July 9, 2026 — the 158th anniversary of the 14th Amendment — one representative voice will take the stage in Chicago and deliver a moral vision for America. They were not chosen by donors, parties, or pundits. They were surfaced by their fellow citizens, through thousands of hours of listening on the Synanim platform, an online assembly where Americans gathered in small groups to answer one question: What moral vision do you hold for your nation? The most empathetic and emotionally literate voices rose to the top.
The Call of a Nation is built around their words, the country's moral inheritance, and the film moves through those values one by one, illustrated by a four-week pilgrimage across America, from the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace to the Chicago lakefront. The result is a portrait of what Americans actually believe in 2026, told by Americans, made for every American to see.
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On July 6 and 7, the project will transition into a massive virtual gathering on the Synanim Platform. Thousands of citizens will enter an online space designed to filter national noise into a clear moral signal. For the participant, the assembly will be a transformative experience of deep listening; it will offer a rare, anonymous, and focused environment where typical shouting matches of the internet are replaced by profound human connection and reflection.
Citizens will gather in virtual rooms where anonymity ensures that every voice is judged solely on the merit and depth of the vision shared.
Every participant will address the core of the project: What moral vision do you hold for your nation?
Through successive rounds, peers will elevate those individuals who demonstrate the highest levels of empathy and emotional literacy.
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Mike and Brittney Buffo are the documentary team behind the film. Mike is Director of Photography/Director and Brittney is the Producer and Lead Writer.
Their collaboration is built on more than a decade of shared work in their marriage: from 2010 to 2017, they ran the HARA Motion Picture Conservatory, a nonprofit organization through which they taught teenagers how to write, act in, and produce their own films. That work shaped everything that followed — a practice grounded in patience, collaboration, and the belief that real stories, told honestly, can change how people see the world. Their documentary Bohemian Soul: A Colony Awakens captures both the founding bohemians of Carmel-by-the-Sea and the living artists carrying that tradition forward — a portrait of place, purpose, and creative inheritance. Mike's most recognized work is Condor Canyon, a feature documentary currently airing on PBS stations nationwide that has screened more than 350 times across more than 35 states. |
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© 2026 National Pilgrimage. All Rights Reserved.
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