Micronations [Tribeca Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

They say good things come in small packages. Director Joe Kowalski definitely thinks so. He made the documentary Micronations, which screened in the Viewpoints section of the 2026 Tribeca Festival. The film introduces you to some of the most eccentric people you’ll ever meet, and they all have one thing in common: they started their own countries.

You’re reading that right. They took unused sections of land, declared them sovereign nations, and installed themselves as kings or chancellors. We start off with the Republic of Molossia, located outside Reno, Nevada. His Excellency President Grand Admiral Colonel Doctor Kevin Baugh runs the nation, which has thirty-six human residents and one dog, according to its website. Molossia has its own space program (i.e. a toy rocket that goes a few feet into the air) as well as its own currency. Baugh maintains a tongue-in-cheek approach, despite taking it all very seriously. How could he not, given that Jack Black once visited?

The other micronations run the gamut from silly to important. One guy built a miniature town behind his parents’ shed. The fact that humans can’t actually fit inside doesn’t matter to him. Another guy, who was once a background actor in a couple of Mark Wahlberg movies, hopes to use his royal status to launch a career as an action hero. Later on, we venture to Dignity Village in Portland, a homeless encampment whose residents have formed a tight-knit community to look out for each other. For the most part, Micronations focuses on the quirky folks, but it’s nice to have a couple sections showing how the idea can be applied in a community service fashion.

If you guessed that people who declare their own sovereign nations are perhaps a bit…weird, you’re absolutely right. There’s plenty of footage from an annual convention that brings many of them together. A lot of the micronation rulers treat their imaginary countries with sincerity, showing up in royal outfits or military regalia and waving flags. Through this, we get some interesting insights. Establishing a micronation is, for many, a way to possess a sense of control that might be otherwise missing from their lives. It also facilitates a feeling of belonging within the community of like-minded individuals.

Kowalski could have tried to penetrate the psychology of these leaders a little more; they all tend to speak in a kind of self-important double-talk. But that’s a minor issue. On the whole, Micronations is fascinating and funny. And who knows, maybe you’ll plan your next vacation to someplace like Molossia or Slowjamistan.

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