"The one thing I thank Michael Moore for is opening up a new genre, which is movies, that will now be more welcome to be delivery devices for political messages on both sides of the aisle," said Bossie, president of the group Citizens United and executive producer of the new documentary "Celsius 41.11." "It's a great way for the American people to have messages, whether they agree with them or not, delivered."

The neighborhood movie theater and the home DVD player have become the newest battlefields in the war between the left and the right, as documentary filmmakers follow the lead of Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" - which hit DVD shelves Tuesday - to present unabashedly partisan nonfiction films.

Three of the conservative side's newest titles - "Celsius 41.11," the Utah-produced "Fahrenhype 9/11" and Minnesota filmmaker Michael Wilson's "Michael Moore Hates America" - are responses to Moore's award-winning analysis of the Bush administration's push to invade Iraq.

"We saw Michael Moore's success in changing the political debate," said Bossie, whose group filed a Federal Election Commission complaint charging the ads for "Fahrenheit 9/11" violated McCain-Feingold restrictions on political advertising. "When I decided it was impossible to allow his lies and propaganda to go unanswered, we decided it's important to make sure that someone have a rebuttal."

"Celsius 41.11" - the title refers to "the temperature at which the brain begins to die" - aims to debunk the charges Moore levels against President Bush and deconstruct the record of Democratic challenger John Kerry. It had its world premiere last week in Washington.

"Fahrenhype 9/11," released Tuesday on DVD and produced by Salt Lake City-based Savage Pictures, more directly challenges Moore's methods.

Mike Fox, who with Steve Haugen edited the film, compared Moore's film with Oliver Stone's "JFK." "He's very good at manipulating people into where he wants to take them," Fox said.

Haugen contends "Fahrenhype" is nonpartisan: "It's not really a right-wing answer [to Moore]. . . . It's just a straight answer."

Liberals would disagree. The Democrats interviewed in "Fahrenhype 9/11" include Fox News Channel commentator Dick Morris and three people - actor Ron Silver, former New York mayor Ed Koch and firebrand Georgia Sen. Zell Miller - who spoke prominently at last month's Republican National Convention.

Moore's success has also spurred conservative marketers. The distributors of the documentary "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House," about the role of religion in the president's life, do not speak of Moore's accusations - but the DVD box labels it "an alternative program to 'Fahrenheit 9/11.' " Publishers of a pro-Bush anthology, Thank You, President Bush, have publicized a "DVD buy-back" program to exchange a copy of the book for anyone who "accidentally" receives a copy of Moore's movie.

"This is Michael [Moore]'s effort to provide work for conservatives because of the rising unemployment due to President Bush - he wants to help them," quipped Robert Greenwald, director of the liberal-leaning documentaries "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Uncovered: The War on Iraq."

Conservatives have also started their own film festivals. The American Film Renaissance showed last month in Dallas, and Los Angeles played host to the first Liberty Film Festival last weekend.

"Culturally, we all know that the media and our popular culture is dominated by Democrats," said Govindini Murty, an Indian-born actress who cofounded the Liberty Film Festival with her filmmaker husband, Jason Apuzzo. "The studios and the film festivals and the distribution companies and the magazines that promote [films] and the newspaper critics who write about them and the film schools that educate [filmmakers] are all hard left-wing."

"What is it with conservatives being victims?" countered Greenwald in an e-mail interview, adding that Republicans have plenty of outlets for their views. "When liberals have a story to tell that is not being told, we go to books or films because we can't get on Fox News or [talk] radio to tell our story," he said.

"Of course Hollywood will do whatever it requires to make a buck," Greenwald continued. "Studios want to make money, and they make all kinds of films to make money, which is their obligation to their shareholders."

Even Bossie, who believes "Hollywood is controlled and filled with liberals who are over-the-top in their support of John Kerry," said it isn't politics that is hampering distribution of "Celsius 41.11."

Distributors "have been making decisions based on the time allowed," Bossie said. "We're late, that's just a fact. . . . Some [distributors] said they would do it if they had an additional month." Still, Bossie said he has received calls from theater chains nationwide eager to screen the film, and he expects distribution plans to be finalized shortly.

The new wave of partisan documentaries "are mainly speaking to the true believers," said William Siska, chairman of film studies at the University of Utah. "If they are lucky enough to attract anyone who really is legitimately undecided, they will truly raise doubts about the people under attack. I think what they're really doing is rallying the troops."

These films also renew the eternal debate over what constitutes a documentary. "I don't think documentary was ever meant to be used as an editorial," Siska said. "This is certainly not a purist's classical form of documentary anymore, in which the filmmaker really does try to stay back. But it's never been objective."

"Everyone in life has an agenda, and all documentaries have a P.O.V.," Greenwald said. "Agenda and truth often go together."

movies@sltrib.com