Sundance: Filmmakers want the issues online

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DEER VALLEY - Their political epiphany came while complaining over coffee in a cafe within view of the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero.

Filmmaker Amy Berg and singer-songwriter David Poe were wondering aloud why pressing issues - national debt, global warming, the war in Iraq - didn't seem to be upsetting the average American voter.

That's when it hit them: the idea of making viral Internet videos.

Friday night at Sundance, Berg and Poe launched "The US Campaign," an idea they're pitching to Hollywood filmmakers, philanthropists and investors. Together, they plan to move national politics into the newest realm of grass-roots technology with the goal of affecting the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

Cathy Schulman, president of Mandalay Pictures, agreed that typical campaign rhetoric tends to numb us to the facts. The focus of The US Campaign, she said, is "to make meaning out of media and cut through the white noise of campaign rhetoric."

Friday night at Glenwild country club, Schulman, Poe and Berg, along with Salt Lake Film Center Executive Director Geralyn White Dreyfous, addressed several hundred potential investors. After feasting on canapes served on silver platters, the crowd gathered to watch Berg's Internet video, "Polarized," which chronicles the effect of global warming on a native Alaskan village. By the end of the evening, the team had raised nearly $200,000 for US.

Their goal is to raise $500,000 to finance 10 politically oriented videos by notable documentary makers. The topics will range from the national debt and the war in Iraq to the the subprime mortgage crisis.

After dinner, brothers Michael and Kevin Bacon took the stage with acoustic guitars and tambourines and performed funky original songs, one composed particularly for the event.

"We're not preaching to the choir tonight," said Michael Bacon. The audience comprised guests across the political spectrum. "But," Bacon said, "I believe we all want the same things: freedom, the pursuit of happiness and civil rights."

As the Bacons sizzled on stage, Poe and Berg stood nearby and bopped along to the music.

"Forty-seven million people in this country are uninsured," said Poe. "Millions of Americans live below the poverty line. There have been over 150,000 casualties in Iraq. Let's stop talking about John Edwards' $400 haircut and who made Hillary's pantsuit and whether Barack Obama wanted to be president when he was a little kid."

The US Campaign wants to create a documentary portrait of what the country really is today. Hopefully, that portrait "will enable voters to make informed decisions this November," Schulman said.

For more information about The US Campaign, e-mail Gdreyfous@slcfilmcenter.org.