World According to Bush – Hitting U.S. Theaters Ahead of Nov. 2 Election
Just in time to reach moviegoers before the November 2nd election, organizers of the Silver Lake Film Festival will release William Karel’s “The World According to Bush” (Le Monde Selon Bush), a French documentary based on the book by Eric Laurent, which delivers a powerful indictment of the U.S. president. Considered a complement to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the film features interviews with Bush advisers, administration officials, and even a speech writer, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, insider Richard Perle, and former CIA chiefs James Woolsey and David Kay.
“We were motivated to distribute ‘The World According To Bush’ first and foremost because we believe in the film and felt it was deserving of a wider audience,” said Greg Ptacek, the festival’s co-director along with Roger M. Mayer, in a statement. This Friday, “The World According to Bush” opens for a week at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco and is also booked in Portland, OR and Cape Cod, MA, according to Greg Ptacek.
He indicated that while bookings in other cities are still being solidified, he expects to have a pre-election day release in as many as fifteen cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Minneapolis, Austin, and others. Ptacek noted that while this is the festival’s first foray into distribution, releasing other films is not out of the question.
“The initial reaction from independent theater owners to our distribution of ‘The World’ has been very positive, and now they’re asking what else we have,” said Ptacek in the statement. “From our perspective, there’s no limit to quality, truly independent films that can find an audience at arthouse theaters across the country.”
The doc, reportedly slighted by Cannes because the festival had already accepted Michael Moore’s film, had its U.S. premiere at the Silver Lake Film Festival, where it won the event’s best picture award at the end of September, and screened over the weekend at the Woodstock Film Festival.
by Eugene Hernandez,
Oct 19, 2004