Welcome to Leith

In 2010, a national media frenzy exploded after a quiet, long-haired stranger began buying up property in the tiny North Dakota hamlet of Leith (population 23, including children). This newcomer was none other than the self-proclaimed “most famous racist in the world,” the notorious anti-Semite Craig Cobb. Cobb’s insidious plan was to turn Leith into an all–white supremacist community (Cobbsville) by taking control of the majority votes in the town council. Into this breach of escalating tension between terrified pistol-packing townspeople and automatic weapon–toting racists arrived Brooklyn documentary filmmakers Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker. The filmmakers were granted incredible access inside both camps, recording confrontations between activists and hate groups, council meetings where racists tried to goad residents into fistfights and finally Cobb’s armed street patrol that took events to their inexorable conclusion. From the ominous opening shot of the winding road leading into Leith to a chilling motel interview with the unrepentant Cobb, this engrossing chronicle of one rural community’s painful struggle seems something straight out of fiction. Directors Nichols and Walker achieve a remarkably clear-eyed view of what occurred in Leith, raising unsettling questions about the continued rise of hate groups and the methods used to silence them.

(Director/Producer/Cinematographer) is a recipient of a Jerome Foundation Grant. “Welcome to Leith,” his second feature film, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His 2013 feature debut “Flex is Kings” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was hailed as an “awesome documentary” by rapper Pusha T. Previously, he directed the viral short documentary “Delivery,” as well as directed the web series “BKLYN FLEX” for Ashton Kutcher’s Thrash Lab and was part of the Peabody award-winning producing team behind Sundance’s 11-hour docu-series “Brick City.” He lives in Brooklyn, New York., Christopher K. Walker (Director/Producer/Editor) edited and produced “Flex is Kings,” edited the Columbia duPont award-winning film “Triangle: Remembering the Fire,” and edited the Emmy-nominated “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” for HBO. He recently edited and co-produced “Freeway: Crack in the System” for acclaimed filmmaker Marc Levin, which will air on Al-Ja zeera America in 2015. He is the recipient of a 2015 Jerome Foundation Grant.