More Than Robots: Gillian Jacobs and Joel McHale

“More Than Robots” follows four teams of teenagers from around the world as they prepare for the 2020 FIRST® Robotics Competition.

Teams from Los Angeles, Mexico City and Chiba, Japan work towards the goal of taking their unique designs all the way to the highly competitive global championships. Although they are faced with overcoming challenges along the way, such as having limited resources within their community or putting everything on hold because of a world-wide pandemic, the kids persevere and learn that there is a lot more to the competition than just robots.

“More Than Robots” is directed by Gillian Jacobs in her feature-length documentary directorial debut. In this SXSW virtual session, Jacobs is joined by her Community co-star Joel McHale to discuss the challenges and victories shared while making the film.