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TIME CAPSULING OBAMA’S ELECTION DAY
In the Fall of 2008 filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends from around the world to record their feelings and experiences on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The resulting material comprises his feature 11/4/08, which premieres at SXSW next month, and Deutchman is still in post raising money. He has a Kickstarter page and is looking to raise $3,500 for color correction and the preparation of various marketing materials.
Here’s how he describes the project:
Two weeks before the election of Barack Obama, filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends around the world to record their experiences of 11/4/08, a day that had become “historic” before it had even taken place. In Phase One of this transmedia-project, a feature vérité documentary, we witness a global canvas begin to unfold: in St. Louis and Austin, idealistic volunteers think they can turn their states blue; in Chicago, voter lines are made even longer when Obama shows up to cast his own vote; in Alaska, children seem to be as invested in the election results as their parents; in Paris, an organization discusses whether there could ever be a black President of France; in Dubai, Berlin, Geneva and New Delhi, expatriates express their emotion from a distance; and in Harlem, a felon casts doubt on whether any of this will actually affect his life. As we approach the final announcement of Obama’s victory at 11pm EST, what emerges is a portrait of how people choose to live through “history”: the celebration of a new future remaining entangled with the universally visible tensions of the past. The premiere of this documentary will coincide with the launch of a website that will mark the beginning of Phase Two: an effort to accumulate the most comprehensive collection of non-news footage shot on 11/4/08. The original version of the film will be updated on the website as a living document, but the footage will also be made available for users at home to edit their own versions of that day and then upload for all to see.
The trailer is below along with the Kickstarter widget.
11/4/08 trailer from Jeff Deutchman on Vimeo.
