Hi Gang, here's that film I've been working on for years now. Thanks again to Jerome and the community for your continuing support!

Howard Dean Movie Sneak Previews In VERMONT!

Montpelier's Savoy on Jan. 26 and Burlington's Roxy on Jan. 27 @ 11 a.m.

Monday, January 14, 2008 CONTACT: HEATH EIDEN 802-253-4422 heatheiden@aol.com

    (Stowe, Vermont)  Three years after Howard Dean's revolutionary presidential campaign ended where it started in Burlington, Vermont, two sneak previews of a movie about the movement will be shown in Montpelier and Burlington on January 26 and 27 at 11 a.m. for a small donation ($10 or "whatever you think it's worth at the end").
    The 90-minute feature film, "Dean And Me: Roadshow Of An American Primary," follows Howard Dean in his run for President through the 2006 mid-term elections.

UPDATE: I have not figured out yet how to do an official update but here's one anyhow: Richard Harris of CA wrote me that he has some valuable footage from Dean's early CA appearances and he is willing to share it. This is exactly the spirit of this project we were hoping for. Yes, the money is what will drive the final cut of this movie but his ideas and offering is just what stone soup is all about. Just like the movement. Thanks Richard! anyhow, As I noted at dailykos with this post, I can't afford blogads at this point, which is a goal of ours, but I do want to share with the community that your grassroots support so far has helped us pay for the cost of our video rich website: thegrassrootsmovie.com! We'd like to thank the individuals who are recognizing that this is a chance to set part of the record straight through powerful documentary filmmaking.

We've been laying low with updates about the movie effort because our immediate concern is with the effort to help Katrina's victims. Personally, (director Heath Eiden) I have a connection with Mandeville, Louisiana which is just across the causeway bridge from New Orleans. Living there truly gave a yankee like me insight into more...cultural divides, besides the love for oyster po boys, Roadhouse music revelations, and southern hospitality.

I followed Howard Dean with my video cameras for about three years--before, during and after his spirited quest for the Democratic nomination.

The film I am directing about grassroots politics and the people in the movement that propelled Howard's rise in the party will show people world-wide how every person counts in our democracy.

Hurricane Katrina has hit us especially hard, having once lived on the coast of Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville, Louisiana. I've held off on the PR effort of thegrassrootsmovie.com out of respect for direct efforts that may help the wonderful people I called family down in that region. This Yankee was blessed to discover another country/culture that is Louisiana USA...huge oak trees with Spanish moss blowing in the wind, daiquries on the fly before hitting the causeway, the Radiators anywhere, Ruby's Roadhouse for the best of the local up and coming bands, oyster po boys with the incomparable local French bread, southern hospitality that is so opposite of a visit to New Hampshire, the piano bar at Lafitte's off Bourban Street....

This is the second part in a series about the movement that made Dean a leader of the Democratic Party. The idea is that you will hopefully share comments and stories with me as I strive to find the resources we need to finish the post production and distribution of a film that will help Democrats. We think it will be invaluable in breaking down sterotypes of one another and will create awareness that we are all very much the same in our concerns about America's future.

The latest:

A nice Minnesota woman, who was instrumental in the Wellstone! movie offerd to help with my marketing efforts. She has kids, the school year is coming on strong, and there just isn't that much time for a woman who is starting her own communications company.

Her first effort was to contact a sister in law who was one of the first to organize for Dean in MN. Unfortunately, this person was so burned out by being on "the Dean roller-coaster" that "she got off it and needed a break." It was just too hard to go back right now "after so much effort that seemed to go nowhere."

Hello. My name is Heath Eiden. I am the director of Grassroots: The Movie. The documentary is about grassroots politics and the people in the movement who propelled Howard Dean's rise as a leader in the Democratic Party. I shot the doc before, during and after (over three years), and yes, I am hoping the grassroots will support this movie since it is YOUR movie. I'll be posting some stories from this road trip for Howard and I hope you will too in your comments b/c the more I know about you, the more I'll get your movie right. Examples of the documentary can be seen at thegrassrootsmovie.com.

I have two kids and live in Vermont. I'm from Minnesota where I helped Mondale before his defeat to Reagan and watched Paul Wellstone rise from those ashes. Finishing and mass distributing this film will help the Democratic Party by breaking down stereotypes and showing how we are all very much the same in our concerns for the future of our country and the world...