I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.
This was an excellent film about unknown first time candidate Jeff Smith running for congress to replace the retiring Dick Gephardt. It follows Smith as he makes an excellent campaign trying to defeat big name candidates including Russ Carnahan (son of former governor Mel and former senator Jean). The Carnahan name is like the "Kennedy" of Missouri, so everyone thought Smith shouldn't bother to run. But this documentary perfectly displays Jeff Smith and his group of campaign runners' determination.
This is a great display of how the underdogs campaign. Smith started out with no money, the people running the campaign consisted of his friends and college students that had no previous political campaign experience. But somehow Smith managed to get his name heard.
Of course, the film's main message is that many politicians rely on money to get elected and not by spreading their views and ideas. Though there have been documentaries like this before, this one is wonderfully edited and really does a great job of displaying this issue.
After the film, the director/cinematographer/editor Frank Popper and Jeff Smith were there for a Q&A. It was really cool to talk with the two about the filming of the movie and the events that took place. Jeff Smith is a really nice guy (not just because it's his job to be nice).
This was one of the documentaries eligible for the 2006 Academy Awards. It was really good and I would have loved for it to have been nominated.
This was an excellent film about unknown first time candidate Jeff Smith running for congress to replace the retiring Dick Gephardt. It follows Smith as he makes an excellent campaign trying to defeat big name candidates including Russ Carnahan (son of former governor Mel and former senator Jean). The Carnahan name is like the "Kennedy" of Missouri, so everyone thought Smith shouldn't bother to run. But this documentary perfectly displays Jeff Smith and his group of campaign runners' determination.
This is a great display of how the underdogs campaign. Smith started out with no money, the people running the campaign consisted of his friends and college students that had no previous political campaign experience. But somehow Smith managed to get his name heard.
Of course, the film's main message is that many politicians rely on money to get elected and not by spreading their views and ideas. Though there have been documentaries like this before, this one is wonderfully edited and really does a great job of displaying this issue.
After the film, the director/cinematographer/editor Frank Popper and Jeff Smith were there for a Q&A. It was really cool to talk with the two about the filming of the movie and the events that took place. Jeff Smith is a really nice guy (not just because it's his job to be nice).
This was one of the documentaries eligible for the 2006 Academy Awards. It was really good and I would have loved for it to have been nominated.