aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Saturday, September 16, 2006

In Atlanta: Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?

UPDATE: The date has been changed back to the originally scheduled September 29. More later.

Opens September 22 at The Plaza in Atlanta. Michael Kime:

A documentary film that I co-wrote and co-produced, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, premieres at the Plaza in Atlanta for a one-week run on Friday, September 22nd. [...]

We follow the 2004 Missouri Democratic primary to replace retiring 28-year veteran and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. It’s told from inside the campaign of Jeff Smith, a 29-year old adjunct political science prof who embarked on a quixotic bid against Russ Carnahan, scion of Missouri’s most powerful political dynasty. As one analyst says: “The Carnahan name is to Missouri what the Kennedy name is to Massachusetts.”

The odds against Jeff are overwhelming. He starts with no money, no political base and no name ID. His staff is a hodge-podge of political nobodies - mostly his former students. But with the help of DFA Founder Howard Dean (who appears in the film), he mobilizes an army of nearly 500 volunteers, generating a youth-oriented grassroots insurgency that poses a serious challenge to Carnahan and overturns the conventional wisdom about the race.

The film, which the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the best political documentary since “The War Room,” offers an unvarnished look at the inside of what Roll Call dubbed one of 2004’s most surprising campaigns.

The film premiered at the Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival where it was awarded the Audience Award. Skinner from Democratic Underground went to the premiere and wrote this review.

Film Threat gave the movie 4 and a half stars and called it “one of the most pleasantly entertaining films of the year.” The trailer can be seen [here].

Like many who make documentaries with their own money, he can’t afford a press blitz so must rely on the grassroots.

I’ll be there next weekend. If you’re in town, I hope you will be there too. Pass it on…