# The Garden We Chose — sources and production notes

## How to read this film

This film uses documented history through November 2025 and an explicitly imagined later history. The years 2025–2033 contain fragmented records within the fictional story; recovery begins in 2033, the council and one-active-AI arrangement is adopted in 2060, and the student lives in 2659. Destruction, population loss, engineered outbreaks, the recovery agreement and colony ships are fictional possibilities, not predictions or established historical events. No instructions for weapons or biological attacks are given.

The historical narrative applies evidence standards to contributions, proposals, enacted laws, outcomes and harms. It is not a comprehensive ranking of presidents or an endorsement of a party or candidate.

## Expanded presidential and candidate research

- [Hillary Clinton: service before office](https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/clinton-hillary-rodham/intro): Legal services, education and public roles; agency historical biography.
- [Hillary Clinton: congressional biography](https://history.house.gov/people/detail/11751): Career chronology; not proof that every policy was successful.
- [Health Care Task Force records](https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/collections/show/81): 1993 appointment and surviving records of the unsuccessful reform effort.
- [Insure Kids Now, February 23, 1999](https://clintonwhitehouse5.archives.gov/WH/Work/022399.html): Contemporary administration announcement documenting shared outreach roles; distinguish advocacy from sole legislative authorship.
- [Children’s Health First Act, S.895 (2007)](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-110s895is): Introduced by Clinton and referred to Finance; not presented as enacted law.
- [Paycheck Fairness Act, S.841 (2005)](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-109s841is): Proposal sponsored by Clinton; no claim that this bill became law.
- [Military caregiver leave: congressional debate](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2007-08-02/pdf/CREC-2007-08-02-pt1-PgS10724.pdf): August 2, 2007 debate, especially printed pages S10731 onward.
- [Military leave law and regulations](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-11-17/html/E8-26577.htm): 2008 law provides eligible military caregivers up to 26 workweeks; leave is unpaid.
- [Clinton’s Iraq authorization vote](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1072/vote_107_2_00237.htm): October 11, 2002, vote 237, Clinton voted Yea.
- [FBI statement, July 5, 2016](https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system): Retains both criticism of handling and recommendation against charges.
- [Malign Creativity, January 2021](https://gbv.wilsoncenter.org/publication/malign-creativity-how-gender-sex-and-lies-are-weaponized-against-women-online): Defined sample: 13 women, six platforms, two-month period; does not establish election outcome effects.
- [2005 Access Hollywood recording: published transcript](https://www.voanews.com/a/transcript-of-donald-trumps-conversation-with-billy-bush-of-access-hollywood/3542128.html): Transcript published October 8, 2016. Narration summarizes without replaying explicit words.
- [Trump’s October 7, 2016 response](https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-vlog-apology-access-hollywood-tape-october-7-2016/): Archived primary statement: apology and characterization of the remarks.
- [Carroll v. Trump, December 30, 2024](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca2-23-00793/pdf/USCOURTS-ca2-23-00793-0.pdf): Appeal affirming civil judgment; distinguish civil liability from criminal conviction; Trump denied wrongdoing.
- [January 6 Committee final report](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/html-submitted/index.html): Committee conclusions are attributed, not presented as an unexplained omniscient judgment.
- [Hillary Clinton White House photograph gallery](https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/galleries/hillary-rodham-clinton-photo-gallery): Official White House photographs; captions retain the specific dates/events and credited photographers.
- [Hillary Clinton health-care PSA, March 17, 1993](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Lady_Hillary_Rodham_Clinton%27s_PSA_on_Health_Care.webm): White House Television public record, NARA identifier 6116583, MT00312. Courtesy: William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Original public-domain video excerpt used under narration, not synthetic Clinton speech.
- [Trump and Pence official portraits, 2017](https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/white-house-releases-official-portraits-president-donald-j-trump-vice-president-mike-pence/): Official White House release; cropped portrait of Trump is identified as such.
- [NOAA bleached coral footage](https://videos.fisheries.noaa.gov/detail/video/900477970001/): Leone, American Samoa, November 2009; public-domain B-roll, credit NOAA Fisheries. Bleaching does not necessarily mean death.
- [NOAA reef B-roll](https://videos.fisheries.noaa.gov/detail/video/1553921798001/): Use Flower Garden Banks section only with that location caption; public-domain package.
- [NOAA Elwha restoration B-roll](https://videos.fisheries.noaa.gov/detail/video/1741901755001/): Historical method example; not the fictional recovery river.
- [Voting information](https://vote.gov/): Official voting requirements and deadlines; general nonpartisan invitation to eligible viewers.
- [Real-world data-centre attacks: research appendix only](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws-bahrain-region-middle-east-conflict): March 2026 company statement on conflict damage. This is outside the film’s November 2025 historical cutoff. It is not evidence that damaged facilities hosted destructive military AIs.

## Additional primary sources for selected presidential examples

- 02: National Archives, [Nineteenth Amendment](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/19th-amendment) and [Voting Rights Act](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act). The former page explicitly notes barriers that persisted for minority women.
- 03–04: National Archives, [George H. W. Bush ADA statement, July 26, 1990](https://www.archives.gov/research/americans-with-disabilities/transcriptions/naid-6037493-statement-by-the-president-americans-with-disabilities-act-of-1990.html); State Department Office of the Historian, [Gulf War](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/gulf-war). Military outcome is distinguished from evaluation of consequences.
- 04: Clinton White House archive, [budget surplus announcement, September 27, 2000](https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/Work/Wed_Sep_27_133729_2000.html), treated as the administration's record, not independent proof of every claimed economic benefit. [U.S. Senate impeachment records](https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-list.htm) establish acquittal.
- 04: State Department, [PEPFAR reports archive](https://2017-2021.state.gov/pepfar-reports-to-congress-archive/). Senate Intelligence Committee, [Phase II report release, June 5, 2008](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/2008/06/05/press-senate-intelligence-committee-unveils-final-phase-ii-reports-prewar-iraq-intelligence/). Findings are attributed to that committee report and are not represented as unanimous.
- 05: Census Bureau, [2016 health insurance report](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-260.html). Obama White House archive, [civilian-casualty policy and reporting, July 1, 2016](https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/01/executive-order-united-states-policy-pre-and-post-strike-measures).
- 05: U.S. Sentencing Commission, [First Step Act implementation](https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/first-step-act-2018-one-year-implementation). DHS OIG, [family-separation review OIG-18-84](https://www.oversight.gov/reports/special-review-initial-observations-regarding-family-separation-issues-under-zero-tolerance).
- 05: [Public Law 117-58](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-117publ58/), November 15, 2021. SIGAR, [Why the Afghan Government Collapsed, 23-05-IP](https://www.sigar.mil/Portals/147/Files/Reports/Audits-and-Inspections/Evaluation/SIGAR-23-05-IP.pdf). The narrative does not attribute all causes of the collapse to one administration. The [Senate's vice-president service table](https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-who-served-as-vice-president.htm) records the Trump administration beginning in 2025.

## Visuals and reuse

Authentic government records and public-domain government footage are labeled ARCHIVE. Generic present-day scenes are labeled ILLUSTRATION. Period dramatizations are labeled RECONSTRUCTION. All future footage is labeled IMAGINED. No generated politician impersonation, fabricated quotation, or invented broadcast is presented as evidence.

- hillary-archive-8.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P37344_08a_01Mar1996_H.jpg?h=7a44b1dc — Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands with the crowd around her at the Hermantown Middle School in Hermantown, Minnesota. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-9.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P31781_01a_05Sep1995_H.jpg?h=4c3caf99 — Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the Colloquium on Women and Health Security in Beijing, China. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-13.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P19894_03a_23Sep1994_H.jpg?h=39ae1023 — Hillary Rodham Clinton visits Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts with Senator Ted Kennedy. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-15.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P08451_27_08Oct1993_H.jpg?h=abd38f27 — First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton participating in activities with children at the Kent Nursing Home in Warwick, Rhode Island. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-17.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P07738_17_22Sep1993_H.jpg?h=b2cc8782 — First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton addressing staff in the health care "war room" in the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) after President Clinton's joint address to Congress regarding health care. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-19.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P05852_08A_22JUL1993_H.jpg?h=355ea2c7 — First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visiting the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. The First Lady encourages a little boy in a physical therapy room while he is using parallel bars. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-23.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P14811_23a_22Apr1994_H.jpg?h=17cd0feb — Black and white photograph. Hillary Rodham Clinton sits in the East Room of the White House and takes questions from the press concerning the Clinton's involvement with Whitewater and their financial investments. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-27.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/P00326_35_26Jan1993_H.jpg?h=2c72febf — First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton participates in a "New York Cares" tutoring session with children at Public School 115 in New York City, New York. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-31.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/42-WHPO-P02456-28.jpg?h=b4f927bc —   President William Jefferson Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are participating in a health care meeting in the Roosevelt Room. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- hillary-archive-33.jpg: https://www.clintonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/catalog/42-WHPO-P01502-12.jpg?h=ad615044 — First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton meeting with Representative Henry Waxman, Representative John Dingell, Representative Jim McDermott, Representative John Conyers, Representative Sherrod Brown on health care at the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- trump-pence-official.jpg: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence-820x531.jpg — . White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.
- obama-official.jpg: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/president_official_portrait_lores.jpg — Official portrait of President Barack Obama. White House / Clinton Presidential Library or official White House archive as identified.

The Hillary Clinton PSA is an authentic White House Television recording from March 17, 1993, public-domain U.S. government work. Credit: Courtesy, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. A short excerpt appears silently under the student’s narration; it is not dubbed with fabricated Clinton speech.

NOAA Fisheries B-roll is public domain under the collection reuse statement, with NOAA Fisheries credit and original location/date captions. The Elwha footage is a historical example of restoration work, not footage of the fictional recovery site.

Generated scenes were created in Michael’s Runway workspace. The approved student reference governs the library scenes. Her home and ship appearances use matching described clothing and rear/side views; identity continuity remains an artistic approximation. Exact readable notes and source screens are recreated editorial interfaces, not surviving historical interfaces.

No broadcaster news clips have been licensed. Documentary history uses authentic government footage, photographs, documents and attributed findings.

## Editorial and technical limits

This film combines documented history and an imagined future. The 2060 computing arrangement is a fictional governance design, not a technical safety guarantee. Centralization has risks, and no single architecture proves safety. Environmental recovery scenes illustrate general methods rather than certify a specific treatment design. Captions are aligned approximately by sentence length to the generated narration and should be checked against speech for publication-grade accessibility. Some footage is slowed or accelerated once to fit its passage; there are no looped or repeated source clips within the cut.