Dean and Me: Road Show of an American Primary

Average:

4.142855

 

Your rating: Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome

 

U.S. PREMIERE Director: HEATH EIDEN DIRECTOR PRESENT. As the battle wages on for the Democratic nomination, Minnesota native Heath Eiden unveils his film about the process candidates have to go through to run for president. Following his Vermont neighbor, the filmmaker never expected to find himself in the middle of one of the greatest grassroots campaigns in modern history: current DNC Chairman Howard Dean's 2004 campaign. The story is revealing given the current situation in today's race as Dean keeps the DNC door open for small donors instead of just the big ones. Starting innocently with a home-video camcorder to get some pictures of his newborn son, Eiden became concerned about the direction America was going in after 911. He started filming one of his neighbors in Vermont who was thinking about running for president and talking to folks in their backyards about why it might not be such a good idea to go to war in Iraq. Ultimately, Eiden gathered more than 200 hours of footage and scaled it down to the 88-minute doc, Dean and Me: Roadshow of an American Primary. Up close and personal, the director catches what most people didn't see on CNN and FOX News. Shadowing characters across the country, Eiden catches up with current U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, for example, as he gets tangled up in a Manchester, NH, political brawl. Ted Mondale, son of the former vice-president, also stars as he braves Iowa winter storms while canvassing for votes. Hillary Clinton, Martin Sheen and Ted Kennedy also appear among many more in this roller-coaster ride through democracy. USA • 2008 • 88 MINUTES • DIRECTOR: HEATH EIDEN