Through powerful footage and intimate access, THE STATE OF ARIZONA focuses on the controversial “papers please” law, SB1070. The feature-length, verité documentary interweaves the volatile themes of immigration and race portrayed through a mosaic of characters and their responses to the law.

The film’s three-act structure is built around the turbulent arc of the law, from the Governor’s signing the bill to the Supreme Court’s upcoming pronouncement on its constitutionality. The throughline is the impassioned battle — on the streets, at the ballot box, and in the Courts — over two competing strands of the American character: the rule of law versus the democratic sense of compassion.