If you, like many, have been following what’s going on in the Democratic Primaries, then you know how tight the race is for the party’s nomination between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Actor Edward Norton and his Class 5 Films are planning to make an Obama documentary that will be released sometime after general elections are held in early November.
According to ComingSoon.net, directors Amy Rice and Alicia Sams have been following Obama since before he decided to run for President. They are still currently filming footage for the film as Obama travels across the country trying to win his bid as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Norton has gotten producer Ari Emanuel on board to help distribute the film. Emanuel helped distribute Michael Moore’s heavily-liberal docs Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11 as well as fictional fare like Borat.
This should be interesting to see. What I like about it is that they’re waiting until after the election and releasing the film in 2009. It gives the untitled Obama documentary more leeway to be an objective feature and won’t play into the propaganda surrounding election time. This way we can go into the general election campaigns without the weight of an Inconvenience Truth or Michael Moore picture dragging either party down. So whether this is a pro or anti-Obama documentary (I’m guessing it’s pro-Obama because Emanuel is a staunch Barack supporter) we won’t have the candidates talking about this, but instead about the issues that face the American people.
Again, the Untitled Barack Obama Documentary (which I’ll tentatively name Yes We Can) is due out in theaters 2009.
Political side-note 1: When I first got this assignment from FSR editor Neil Miller the link was damaged and I couldn’t get to ComingSoon.net. So I typed “Ed Norton working on Obama doc” into google search and it brought me to this page over at libertyfilmfestival.com: A Forum for Conservative Thought on Film where the writer refers to Obama as practicing “Messiah schtick.” What is most striking about this article is the talkback at the bottom. The quote from user prisoner105 about Obama being a “Black Man who was once a Muslim” made me laugh. I know we don’t ever have to challenge talkbackers to back up their claims, but that’s ridiculous. Obama was never raised Muslim.
Political side-note 2: When Neil’s link finally worked I went over to ComingSoon.net (which has a large banner ad reading “Help Elect Barack Obama”) and my faith in politics and geekdom was restored upon reading a talkbacker claim he was voting for the “Wolvie/Ironman” ticket. I will admit it is hard to imagine the clawed Wolverine running for office. I think he’d be a much better Secretary of Defense, only slightly less violent than Donald Rumsfeld.
Talking Point: Does a documentary about Barack Obama interest you?
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