Barry-related (really, I just need an excuse to post an Ed Norton pic)
A Documentary About the Obama Campaign Is Drawing Wide Interest
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: November 12, 2008
A documentary, more than two years in the making, about President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign is gathering significant interest from international distributors just days after being picked up in the United States by HBO. A team of directors and editors backed by the actor Edward Norton is furiously editing the untitled project.
Given the historic nature of Mr. Obama’s victory and worldwide interest in the presidential race, the film is drawing attention from the BBC and other foreign broadcasters. Since the HBO acquisition was announced, “we’ve had an enormous number of incoming calls from territories all over the world,” said Andrew Hurwitz, an entertainment lawyer who is representing the film along with the talent agency Endeavor.(OP's note: the company of Ari Emanuel, Rahmbo's less-cute bb bro)
Behind-the-scenes snapshots of campaigns have become a documentary staple, with “The War Room,” about President Bill Clinton’s 1992 run, and “Journeys With George,” about President Bush’s 2000 race, being two recent examples. The film about Mr. Obama’s 21-month campaign may prove to be an especially big draw overseas.
“Of course an Obama film interests us very much,” said Nick Fraser, editor for the BBC’s “Storyville” series of documentaries.
Mr. Fraser and Greg Sanderson, the editorial executive for “Storyville,” confirmed that the BBC was in early negotiations about broadcasting the film sometime next year.
Mr. Sanderson said, “I don’t think there’s anyone in the United Kingdom who wouldn’t want to see more of what Obama is really like - to get a real understanding of the man behind the media image.”
The film’s genesis dates to 2004, when Amy Rice, a cinematographer, was alerted by her brother Andrew, now an Oklahoma state senator, to several Internet articles about Mr. Obama before his speech Democratic National Convention. She began tracking Mr. Obama’s Senate campaign.
“She was intrigued by the possibility that he might run for president someday,” Mr. Rice said.(OP's note: obviously the lady is psychic; then again, anyone who watched Obama speak in 2004 knew that someday he'll run)
Joined by Alicia Sams as co-director and backed by Mr. Norton’s production company, Class 5 Films, Ms. Rice started filming Mr. Obama in 2006, following him to Africa and documenting his political life as he contemplated running for president. As his campaign commenced in 2007, the two filmmakers were a recognizable presence among the traveling press corps. Ms. Rice and Ms. Sams did not respond to interview requests.
As early as last winter, those at Class 5 said, they thought the project could be notable. During the primary election season, Ari Emanuel - an agent at Endeavor and the brother of Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel - set up meetings for Mr. Norton with three HBO executives, Richard Plepler, Michael Lombardo and Sheila Nevins. The network quickly committed to the project.
“This was an easy decision, knowing of the unprecedented access the filmmakers were given and how compelling this story was even eight months ago,” said Mr. Lombardo, who is the president of the programming group and West Coast operations.
The executives said they were not particularly concerned about the outcome of the race, although the deal - reportedly valued at at least $1 million - was not finalized until last Thursday.
“We knew that whatever happened, this was not only a transcendent political story but a transcendent American one as well,” said Mr. Plepler, the co-president of HBO.
Attention now turns to the rest of the world. Representatives for Class 5 said they are only beginning to talk to potential buyers. “Most documentaries sell as a result of it being Michael Moore or an internationally known filmmaker,” Mr. Hurwitz said. “In this case it is absolutely about the subject and the access to the subject.”
Already the film is highly anticipated: the Envelope, an awards blog produced by The Los Angeles Times, wrote on Monday that the documentary “may sweep the Emmy elections.” Amid the buzz, little is known about the documentary’s content. Mr. Rice said 20 minutes of excerpts were screened for some of Mr. Obama’s biggest donors at a theater in Denver during the Democratic National Convention in August. Ms. Rice and Ms. Sams are expected to continue filming through Inauguration Day.
Thom Powers, a documentary programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival, said campaign documentaries, beginning with 1960’s “Primary,” which followed John F. Kennedy’s campaign, tell stories that are sometimes hard to spot in the daily grind of an election.
“Even though we live in a world where we think we have saturation news coverage, it’s really an illusion,” Mr. Powers said. “What happens when we see these documentaries, a year later, is that we’re stunned to find there are aspects and personalities and plot points to the campaign that had never been illuminated before.”
HBO said the Obama documentary will not been seen until spring or early summer. A companion of sorts about the Republican campaign will be released first. The film, by Alexandra Pelosi, the director of “Journeys With George,” is tentatively titled “McCain’s America: 57,838,800 Voters.” It could have its debut as early as February, also on HBO.
source
An article about this doc has been posted here before, FWIW. It should be very interesting in that the documentary started tracking Obama since 2004 just prior to his DNC speech and began filming in earnest as early as 2006.