Docu derby

Just back with footage they shot in Iraq, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C., filmmakers Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy are racing against time. They’re editing 15 hours a day in their North Hollywood home to get their documentary “The Oil Factor Behind the War on Terror” finished and into theaters before the presidential election.

Nearly a dozen other films are in that race too. In the shadow of Michael Moore and his high-profile “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a band of less flamboyant documentarians is rushing ahead with similarly charged political films. Taking advantage of inexpensive digital video technology and Internet marketing strategies, these filmmakers likely will reach wider audiences, faster, than political documentarians ever have.

With few exceptions, the projects criticize the Bush administration. Some say the filmmakers are stepping into the breach left by journalists who have failed to ask hard questions out of fear of appearing unpatriotic. “A lot of people are saying things now that if uttered in the wake of 9/11 there would have been a lynch mob,” says New York distributor Eamon Bowles, who will roll out “Control Room” to 200 theaters over the summer.

“Control Room” is a sympathetic portrayal of reporters from the Arab TV news network Al Jazeera as they cover the war in Iraq. In other films, audiences will find a case detailing how the government misrepresented its reasons for going to war (“Uncovered: The War on Iraq”), the stories of Arabs and Muslims detained after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 (“Persons of Interest”) and a scathing assessment of presidential advisor Karl Rove (“Bush’s Brain”). One film, “War Feels Like War,” follows the ordeals of journalists who ventured into Iraq without being embedded with the military. At least two will provide friendly portraits of Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Film historians can’t recall an election year with such intense cinematic activism. As recently as five years ago, many were even predicting the end of the documentary form. But audiences suddenly started gobbling up reality programming in theaters as well as on TV. Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine,” as well as “Spellbound” and “Capturing the Friedmans,” won fans and profits in the last two years. “Super Size Me,” which attacks fast-food giant McDonald’s, has been No. 10 at the box office for the last three weeks, playing in about 200 theaters.

“What’s interesting now is that distributors and exhibitors are giving documentaries more space than I would have predicted 10 years ago,” says Toby Miller, director of the program in film and visual culture at UC Riverside.

“Fahrenheit 9/11” -- Moore’s controversial film that excoriates Bush from before his election to his handling of postwar Iraq -- will open on at least 650 screens nationwide, hundreds more than Academy Award winners “Bowling for Columbine” or “The Fog of War” did. Even films that don’t make it into megaplexes should benefit from the proliferation of film festivals and the booming DVD market.

Current events seem to be creating a hunger for such history-in-the-making films. “The mainstream news media have basically fallen down on the job,” says Miller. “Put that together with the heightened political fascination among the electorate and you have a certain marketplace for political documentary.”

It’s only natural that filmmakers are stepping into the role traditionally occupied by journalistic muckrakers, says Jonathan Miller, president of First Run/Icarus Films, which is distributing “Persons of Interest.” “It’s a visual culture now. People watch TV and talk about movies more. There are exponentially more outlets for film and video. Many times more people are going to film school. The cost of cameras is minimal. The number of people running around filming stuff is astronomical,” he says.

Easy-to-use digital video cameras and editing software have “democratized” the medium, says documentary filmmaker Mark Jonathan Harris (“Into the Arms of Strangers”), who teaches filmmaking at USC. “You don’t have to wait for financing from networks or studios. One or two people can go out and start shooting right now,” he says. Then, like Ungerman and Brohy, the filmmakers can edit their movies on home computers.

Joining the fray

But it’s not just newcomers getting into the field. Veteran filmmaker Robert Greenwald (“Steal This Movie”), motivated by what he saw as a “critical time in the life of our country,” decided to produce and direct “Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War.” The film pointedly contrasts Bush administration statements about the war with those of 25 former high-ranking government employees. Financed in part -- and widely publicized via e-mail -- by the liberal Web-based group moveon.org, a 60-minute DVD version of “Uncovered” already has been seen by an estimated 100,000 people. Thousands saw it one night last fall in a mass screening organized by moveon.org in 3,000 homes nationwide.

Los Angeles-based distributor Philippe Diaz was so impressed by the short version of “Uncovered” that he saw in a Santa Monica theater last fall -- when it got a standing ovation -- that he helped expand it to 90 minutes, transfer it to 35-millimeter film and launch an international marketing campaign. The theatrical version will open in New York in mid-August, two weeks before the Republican National Convention opens there. Greenwald hopes he can win some hearts and minds there. “If they show they are a member of the convention,” Greenwald says, “they can get in free.”

Inspired by the successes of Greenwald and Moore, other political documentarians are working at breakneck speed to get their films into theaters before voter interest wanes. Steven Rosenbaum is moving so fast with his look inside the Kerry campaign, “Inside the Bubble,” that he’s editing it while shooting.

Releasing “Control Room” was hectic, Bowles said. “Two months ago, we didn’t have a signed contract for this film.” Today it’s playing in New York and opens in Los Angeles on Friday. While the film may be rough around the edges, he said the timeliness was worth it. “Political events are selling our film better than any trailers and one-sheets can.”

Some filmmakers admit they hope to influence the outcome of the election. Last Tuesday night, after Hollywood gave Moore a standing ovation at a VIP screening of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” he urged the crowd to “get people out there in November.”

Moore, in particular, has been criticized for excessively stacking the deck against Bush in his film. “Michael Moore has really made a ‘don’t vote for George Bush’ film. That’s propaganda,” says San Francisco film historian David Thomson. The White House has called the movie “outrageously false.”

Anti-administration

That the current spate of documentaries knocks the administration should come as no surprise. Just as talk radio leans to the right, documentaries have appealed to the left in recent years, says Steve Savage, co-founder of the home entertainment distribution company New Video, which releases the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Weather Underground” on DVD this summer.

Filmmakers say Moore’s success has paved the way for more argument-driven documentaries from the opposition.

Co-producers of “Bush’s Brain,” Joseph Mealey and Michael Shoob, for instance, say there’s no point to making a film without a strong point of view. Their stated goal is to expose how politicking diminishes public understanding of current affairs. “In our film, we show Karl Rove’s whole M.O. as a White House operative is to count on no one having a very deep understanding of what’s going on. A lot of their success has to do with voters having a vague sense of things,” Shoob says. “If people are voting based on inaccurate reporting, and a vague sense of the facts, it’s a real sad state of affairs in this country.”

When critics complained that “Control Room” ignored reports that three Al Jazeera employees were paid agents of the former Iraqi regime, the filmmaker responded that her film is more personal than journalistic. Bowles, for his part, insists he would not have distributed the movie if it were a simplistic polemic. “The filmmaker does a great job walking the line,” he says.

At this point, it’s not clear whether any of these films will appeal to, let alone win over, people beyond a narrow audience of Democrats or film festival fans. Their success may depend on whether the films reach “the working class, military, folks in Middle America, the South and the Midwest. That requires big financing, market testing, all those things people releasing documentaries tend not to have,” says UC Riverside’s Miller.

Moore has won attention for his films by selling himself as an “idiosyncratic but common-man populist,” Miller says. “Oppositional voices in the U.S. need that kind of personality. They don’t need moralizing, clerical, studious academic figures in button-down shirts. They need larger than life blunderbusses like Michael Moore.”

Speaking before an adoring audience of like-minded colleagues last Tuesday, Moore indicated that potential voters aren’t the only audience he hopes to reach.

Many filmmakers, he said, self-censor out of fear of “crossing the line” and spoiling their chances of broad distribution. By getting his film made and out to the public, he said, “I want to encourage other filmmakers to make their movies.”

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Documentary roll call

A dozen politically charged documentaries are scheduled to come out before the presidential election in November. Nearly all are left-leaning or critical of the Bush administration in some way.

“Control Room” -- Jehane Noujaim’s documentary on the Arab news network Al Jazeera. Currently playing in New York. Opens in Los Angeles Friday; will roll out to an estimated 200 screens nationwide this summer.

“Fahrenheit 9/11” --Michael’s Moore’s anti-Bush documentary attacks U.S. foreign policy since Sept. 11, 2001. Nationwide theatrical release on 650 or more screens June 25.

“Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train” -- Portrait of the left-wing activist, playing in art-house theaters all summer, starting Friday in Portland. Directed and produced by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller.

“Bush’s Brain” -- Based on the book “Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential,” by James C. Moore and Wayne Slater, the documentary paints Rove as a dirty trickster. Limited screenings in electoral swing states. DVD release via Internet late June. Michael Shoob and Joseph Mealey, directors.

“Persons of Interest” -- Muslim and Arab immigrants talk about their legal battles stemming from their detention by federal officials after 9/11. The film will do the festival and art-house circuit this summer and air on the Sundance Channel in September. Lawrence Konner, executive producer.

“Uncovered: The War on Iraq” -- Robert Greenwald’s expanded documentary featuring ex-government officials dismantling the Bush administration’s rationale for going to war. Theatrical release Aug. 13 on about 70 screens. Short version on DVD now.

“Tour of Duty” -- Based on the book of the same name by Douglas Brinkley. Portrays the Vietnam experiences and antiwar activities of Sen. John F. Kerry. Theatrical release in September. George Butler, director; Lawrence Bender, producer.

“The Oil Factor Behind the War on Terror” -- Original footage from Afghanistan and Iraq and interviews with Bush administration officials link oil interests to the military conflicts. Theatrical release planned in October. Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy, directors.

“Inside the Bubble” -- A look inside the Kerry presidential campaign. Theatrical release planned for the fall. Steven Rosenbaum, director.

“War Feels Like War” -- Stories of reporters who ventured into Iraq to get the stories uncovered by “embedded” journalists. To air on PBS July 6. Esteban Uyarra, director.

“The Hunting of the President” -- Based on the book about the campaign to discredit the Clintons by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason. Opens in New York Friday and Los Angeles July 23. Directed by Nickolas Perry and Harry Thomason.

“The Corporation” -- Based on Joel Bakan’s book “The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power.” Playing art houses now. Comes to Los Angeles July 9. Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot, directors.