Palin is . . .

I think McCain's choice for VP is bold and intriguing. I don't know what I think about her yet. And frankly, I think it's a bit too early for anybody else to know what they think about her either. There is such a rush to put this woman into a neat little box and find an appropriate label for her. I know it's a fundamental human strategy to classify and determine whether someone is "friend" or "foe". After all, if our ancestors didn't have this ability, they wouldn't be our ancestors. The media is even saying the crucial thing is who wins the race to define her will determine whether she's an asset or liability. Yet, like every other individual on this planet, she's a complicated person. Can't we give it a little time for all the facts to come out, and to see how she comes across before making these decisions?

of course I should say a few words about the speech

Too many words will be said about the speech last night as it is, so right now I will just add a few comments that relate to our film's theme of moving beyond opposing categories to find common ground. For years I've been waiting for a candidate of any stripe to say something like. . ."we wish to live in a country where few women ever have to get to the point where they must decided upon an abortion. We will do what what it takes to make that as rare as possible. In the meantime, let's keep abortion for those who do choose it safe, legal and available." I thought Obama came the closest to it last night with his comment "we may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies". His remarks on gun control and gay rights were in a similar vein. I hope we will hear similar from McCain.

politics is personal

At my Judo club there is a Sensei from Honduras. He doesn't speak much English. Nonetheless he managed to use a smattering of English, Japanese and gestures to teach techniques we haven't learned from anyone else and make many friends in the process. A while back he brought in his new little baby.

This morning I got an email saying that he had fallen 30 feet on a construction site and was seriously injured. His wife had said that they had both been working day and night in multiple jobs which is why we hadn't seen him for awhile.

It's utterly heartbreaking to think of this happening to such a good person. Richard's first reaction to this story was to say that he wished we were doing things to help people more directly. This family's plight seems far removed from the world of this film.

And yet upon further reflection maybe you can argue it isn't. I can only speculate on many of the details of the story. Yet it doesn't seem to much of a stretch to say that the philosphy of those in charge, and their ability to realize it can greatly affect the lives of people like these. Government policy can affect what kind of health care he will get, whether the family will go into debt trying to pay for it and whether a family with such a young baby needs to be working that hard to get by. These are the real people and the real dramas that lie behind the rhetoric and debate.

Success

Like any filmmaker, artist, or person who makes something, we want the results of our efforts to be a "success". However, "success" can be hard to define, especially for a documentary film. Some people consider festival selection a criteria for success. But with even small rinky dink festivals getting hundreds of entries these days (Silverdocs got over 1700 submissions) it was never a realistic expectation for our earnest little film to stand out among the "edgier", "sexier" stories that most festivals seek.

Others consider numbers of sales as their guage. I've tried to avoid getting obsessed about the rankings on Amazon, but it's hard to resist checking them out sometimes. I've been told they are better than anybody else's documentary in the D-word (my internet documentary forum/community). However, compared to the latest Hollywood blockbuster they will always be miniscule. But I don't believe that a film that sells 500 times as many copies as another is 500 times as successful.

We made this film to encourage people to think about things in a new way. Today I reconnected with an old friend who hasn't seen the movie yet, but did check out the trailers awhile back. She said she and her teenager had learned alot from them. I remember hearing the same thing from a historian who saw our movie at a rough cut screening. I see the postings on Youtube that I quoted the other day. These are just a few examples. I also know that for every person who bothers to comment there are many others who don't take the time, but were none the less affected. So I have faith that we are, and will continue to experience "success" with our little film.

another festival

Just received word that American Feud has been choosen an official selection of the Utopia Film Festival which will run October 24th - October 26th in Greenbelt. More news to follow.

Comments from the youtube trailer

*** Comparing Liberals and conservatives is comparing apples and oranges. Conservatism is a state of mind and way of life. Liberalism is a theory on the relationship between government and governed. Americans are completely unaware that we are all liberals. If you believe in inalienable individual rights to life, property and pursuit of self interests as opposed to a monarchy, feudalism, dictatorship or communism, you are a liberal. Our revolution was founded on liberalism.


*** Republicans are generally Classical Liberals, and Democrats, Social liberals. Some of the views on role of government have change and politicians tend to enact laws/acts that somewhat exacerbate problems they intend to fix, but the bases are still the same. Classical Liberals believe in very small government intervention and free markets. Social Liberals believe in additional rights to health care, education and min. wages. R's and D's just differ on how individual rights are viewed.

***in truth there is no such thing as "liberal" and "conservative". it is the mechanism of a monolithic two-party system to divide society against itself by assigning some values for these guys and some values for those guys. these values change over time and are completly superficial.

Latest news

American Feud was selected as a finalist in the feature documentary section of The Independents Film Festival

http://www.ifftampa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=46

Thomas Frank

When we interviewed Thomas Frank he was prommoting his book "What's the Matter with Kansas". Now we are promoting our movie and he is promoting his latest book "The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule". So we were encouraged by the fact that it took him as long to write a book as it took us to make our movie.

We saw him interviewed the other day on The Colbert Report. We though he did well by taking the bull by the horns early on with an aggressive statement, something along the lines of "that's bullshit". With that, Colbert could only pull so much of his usual mock bluster.

I haven't read the book, but from what I've heard, it seems to make similar points to the ones Chomsky makes in our film. Although perhaps in a vernacular easier to understand than Chomsky's.

One last word about "Sausage Making"

I said I wouldn't discuss anything more about the nitty gritty of marketing a film. Not to go back on that, but there's a few things I've learned along the way that need to be shared.

The first is that documentary filmmakers are alot like others artists in other media. Very few make any money at it, it's usually more a labor of love. So they need your support. This doesn't necessarily mean a big financial contribution or much effort. First of all, just buy the DVD, album etc. instead of pirating it. It's not really that much money for all the effort that went into it. Trust me on this one. I understand the temptation, I'm a reformed copier myself. But it every little bit helps.

Second, take a few minutes to get the word out. If you like something, write a favorable review on Amazon. Then go to the "Tags Customers Associate with This Product". Check off the tags AND suggest tags to Amazon. Both of these will help others find the film and perhaps buy it. Comment on any blogs you happen to be on and post a link - the more places that link to the artists' site, the better the google ranking will be.

OK, that's enough time on the soapbox. Back to commenting on politics soon.

from the mouths of Governors

I caught the end of an interview with Maryland governor O'Malley today on WAMU's (NPR) Kojo Namdi show. Our governor concluded the show mock scolding one of the reporters questioning him, basically telling him to chill out because "ideology is passe - government can work".

I haven't been his biggest fan as Governor, but I thought that was a wonderful quote.

Back to Blogging

I took a long break from blogging about the film, but not completely from blogging. One of this summer's trips was well documented in my travel blog. But besides several trips, family events and numerous other instances of "life getting in the way" we've still been working on the film. Now that it's complete, the second leg of publicizing it takes place. I've heard more experienced filmmakers say that's as much of a process as making the film in the first place. I won't get into the details of it, since it'll probably be the equivalent of seeing sausage getting made. But suffice to say, it is as challenging as making the film in a different way. There is as much as a learning curve in such skills as search engine optmization, getting on amazon, creating an eblast and viral marketing . as there was in fair use rules, final cut editing software etc.

But enough about that, tomorrow I resolve to write more about the current political climate - and hope to generate some discussion.