A Grassroots Movie with never seen footage of the presidential campaign.

[madfloridian]

This is a post at Kos by Heath Eiden, a part of the Dean Campaign since 2002. He and his co-producer are putting together hours and hours of footage in a movie. I thought some here might be interested. I donated 30 to get the DVD when the project is finished. Heath ran the Dean TV website during the campaign, and I think he was one of the guys at the Dean Nation website.
Here is his Kos post today:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/22/203148/894



Here is his website.
http://www.thegrassrootsmovie.com/index.htm

If you look carefully in the Franken clip, you will see the guy who was screaming at Howard Dean and refusing to be controlled...and Al Franken tackled him.

[Cha]

1. I really appreciate that Heath

Eiden is doing this..and thank you for calling it to our attention, madfloridian.

"I will explain in a series how this film will help the Democratic Party by distributing the message that we are all in this together. That we are diverse and working for change, but that we will continue to lose if we do not work together knowing that what's killing us is the cynical ability of the Republicans to divide us. That said, I will simply start with my press release under the fold. I hope you will offer suggestions and comments going forward."

The more documentaries about our Democracy the better. The bushwa have what's left of the media and we are forced to be creative with other routes.

Thanks again :hi:

[madfloridian]

2. I look forward to some of the footage I have heard about.

It should be a one of a kind thing. If you post at Kos, give it a recommend.

[Cha]

3. I don't post at Kos..

I would think this Doc will be Dynamite!

[madfloridian]

4. Some of the journey Heath will include:

http://www.thegrassrootsmovie.com/treatment.htm

GRASSROOTS TREATMENT

American presidential politics used to be a serious subject that
mainstream politicians and mainstream media presented to us, the
citizenry. Now that's all changed.

ACT 1
It all began when I left New York City for the farm life of Vermont, which consisted of sitting on my back deck overlooking the Green Mountains and watching other farmers farm.

Then came 9/11. Then I heard the governor of Vermont was having his official portrait painted. I didn’t see the connection right away. But I picked up my DV camera to follow the creation of the painting and, just after the portrait was officially presented, the governor declared his bid for the presidency. It was time to leave the farm.

I set out to follow with camera the man in the painting as far as he
went. However, only official media were welcome—a strange attitude for a grassroots campaign. But the absurdities of presidential politics
had just begun. So I created my own official media credentials by
creating my own official media (Internet), DeanTV.org., and I hit the
campaign trail in my ‘74 green Landcruiser as the network’s lone
correspondent.

Skipping the acts in between, and moving on to Act 4 wherein the movement is just beginning.

ACT IV
Only an outsider, it turned out, would attend one of Howard Dean’s final public events: the Burlington, Vermont hockey game in which his son, wearing sweater Number 12, was playing his last regular season game as a senior defenseman.

As I photographed Dean in the bleachers, munching a macrobiotic cookie
with his arm around his wife, Judy, I marveled that, for once, I didn’t
have to fight for a camera position. In a matter of hours, the
candidate had metamorphosed from media icon to media cartoon.
Correspondingly, the media horde, once a multitude, had dispersed. The
speed of transformation was breathtaking.

The media had gone. But the movement had just begun.

Heath Eiden, director
Deanna Kamiel, co-producer

[madfloridian]

5. A morning kick for what looks to be unseen footage.

http://www.thegrassrootsmovie.com/about.htm

This page tells a lot of people on the original footage, though editing not complete.

Couple of nice comments, from Anna of www.annatopia.com and Ken Burns of Civil War documentary fame.
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/
"...terrific tape on Howard Dean's campaign, and other various political animals. It's lively, well edited and inventive. I hope you're able to make a larger film on the media." ... Ken Burns, filmmaker, The Civil War…

"Heath was there every step of the way. I trust his vision."...Anna Brosovic, Annatopia.com

[madfloridian]

6. One more kick for the Dean folks still here.

Most of us have moved on to other sites, but a few still linger around. This just sounds like an opportunity to see lots of different people in footage you would not see on TV.