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The economy. Stupid.
May. 3rd, 2013 10:27 amHEY JAE GUESS WHAT? :D
Yesterday evening I went to see The War Room as part of the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto and I had a blast. Jae, I thought of you a lot - watching what happens behind the scenes of an election is the only way to fully realize how much work goes into making a political career, and I don't mean just that you have to work hard to be successful as a politician. That wouldn't be enough. No, you need to be surrounded by the right people with enough drive and passion to help you make it.
It's an extraordinary film, and I may have developed a bit of a crush on James Carville, but as usual the best part is the Q and A with the filmmakers. As I am getting more used to watching documentary films and listening to documentary filmmakers, I am discovering that the filmmakers are often just as interesting as the films they bring to you.
Chris Hegedus is charming, poised and smart and I was impressed with her impeccable posture; D. A. "Penny" Pennebaker is a little brittle and hard of hearing but still alive and vibrating with his passion for documentary film.
Question: How did you get access to the War Room?
Chris Hegedus: Well, we had very little access really and it was always very sporadic. We didn't get access to Bill Clinton, because he was already being followed by a photographer from Newsweek, but we did manage to get access to his campaing headquarters in Little Rock. Every now and then George Stephanopoulos would tell us "ok, that's enough, go back to New York please" but we always came back. This was the age of the fax, see. We'd send him a fax saying " we're planning to come back on that date, I hope that's okay" knowing full well that he would get about 300 faxes that day and possibly wouldn't even see ours. And then we'd show up.
"Penny" Pennebaker: The film ended up being well received. It was shown in movie theatres and we even got a whatsitsname, a, a summons to the Academy Awards.
Audience *dies*
It is my firm belief that the people who attended yesterday's screening will never see the Academy Awards in quite the same light - I know I certainly won't.
Oh, and also HELLO DEAR FRIENDS LONG TIME NO SEE HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? :D
Yesterday evening I went to see The War Room as part of the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto and I had a blast. Jae, I thought of you a lot - watching what happens behind the scenes of an election is the only way to fully realize how much work goes into making a political career, and I don't mean just that you have to work hard to be successful as a politician. That wouldn't be enough. No, you need to be surrounded by the right people with enough drive and passion to help you make it.
It's an extraordinary film, and I may have developed a bit of a crush on James Carville, but as usual the best part is the Q and A with the filmmakers. As I am getting more used to watching documentary films and listening to documentary filmmakers, I am discovering that the filmmakers are often just as interesting as the films they bring to you.
Chris Hegedus is charming, poised and smart and I was impressed with her impeccable posture; D. A. "Penny" Pennebaker is a little brittle and hard of hearing but still alive and vibrating with his passion for documentary film.
Question: How did you get access to the War Room?
Chris Hegedus: Well, we had very little access really and it was always very sporadic. We didn't get access to Bill Clinton, because he was already being followed by a photographer from Newsweek, but we did manage to get access to his campaing headquarters in Little Rock. Every now and then George Stephanopoulos would tell us "ok, that's enough, go back to New York please" but we always came back. This was the age of the fax, see. We'd send him a fax saying " we're planning to come back on that date, I hope that's okay" knowing full well that he would get about 300 faxes that day and possibly wouldn't even see ours. And then we'd show up.
"Penny" Pennebaker: The film ended up being well received. It was shown in movie theatres and we even got a whatsitsname, a, a summons to the Academy Awards.
Audience *dies*
It is my firm belief that the people who attended yesterday's screening will never see the Academy Awards in quite the same light - I know I certainly won't.
Oh, and also HELLO DEAR FRIENDS LONG TIME NO SEE HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? :D
