Following Alexis West
Taglines:
“Where in the world do you find Democracy?”
“Would you go to the ends of the Earth for what you believe… literally?”
Treatment:
“Following Alexis West” is an examination of the effect that New Zealand’s switch to a proportional representation system in 1996 has had on the country’s politics and culture, eleven years later. In the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville, who traveled to America from France to examine American democracy, the producer, Brian Boyko travels to New Zealand from America to examine its democratic system.
The project will take a look at how New Zealand’s proportional system prevents problems that we have in the United States, including gerrymandering, negative campaigning, civic disengagement, and undue influence of powerful lobbies, as well as taking a look at problems with democracy in New Zealand that we don’t have in America, like restrictions on satire and film classification.
Interviews will include academic political scientists, New Zealand political figures, media members, bloggers, and just plain old folks in the pub, to gain insight into broader questions, such as why New Zealand chose to go to a proportional election system, whether the system provides a fair compromise between conflicting interest groups, whether governments formed in New Zealand are stable and able to effectively govern, and most importantly, what the relationship is between New Zealand’s governmental system and New Zealanders.
Production Stills:
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Technology/Equipment:
The film will be recorded in 1080/24p NTSC. Periodic updates will appear on this Web site during production, through YouTube - these videos will be filmed at VGA quality and may or may not be included in the final cut. Planned distribution methods include DVD-9 and BluRay. Current plans are to make the video available online at reduced resolution for free after a certain amount of time has passed, however, this is subject to change.
Distribution:
The film is being produced as an independent production, and will need to find distributors.
The project involves three separate end-formats. The main distribution, “Following Alexis West” will be a feature length (approx. 90 min) movie for release to American and European film festivals; with the option of finding a distributor if one is available. A seperate edit, with the working title of “By Popular Demand” will be a 56 minute version for New Zealand audiences with the intention of broadcast within New Zealand. Additionally, all the raw footage - over 20 hours worth - will be digitized and offered to the New Zealand Film Archive, the South Seas Film School, the University of Texas School of Communication Radio-Television-Film program, and distributed online under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Remix Licence - meaning that the footage can be used for educational, historical, and other non-commercial projects with no license fee.
Production Status:
Auckland and Wellington area production has been concluded, and secondary shooting in Austin, TX will begin shortly.
Post-production should be complete by March 2008. Submission to film festivals will begin in April 2008.
Interviews With:
- Peter Dunne, MP, Leader, United Future
- Rodney Hide, MP, Leader, ACT
- Russell Brown, editor of Hard News and contributor to “The Listener”
- Rt. Hon. Jenny Shipley, Prime Minister, 1997-1999, National
- Rt. Hon. Jim Bolger, Prime Minister, 1990-1997, National
- Gordon Copeland, MP
- Nandor Tanczos, MP, Green Party
- Russel Norman, Co-leader, Green Party
- Dr. Paul Harris, Former Chief Executive, Electoral Commission of New Zealand
- Bill English, MP, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, National
- David Farrar, editor of KiwiBlog
- Rt. Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Prime Minister, 1989-1990, Labour
- Nigel Roberts, Associate Professor of Political Science, Victoria University of Wellington
- Hon Marian Hobbs, MP, Labour
- Rt. Hon Winston Peters, MP, Leader, New Zealand First Party
- Dr
- Nicky Hager, Investigative Journalist, Sunday Star-Times and Author, “The Hollow Men.”
- Te Ururoa Flavell, MP, Maori Party
- Jordan Carter, editor of Just Left
- Mark Savlion, McGillicuddy Serious Party
- Graeme Cairns, McGillicuddy Serious Party
Crew:
- Co-Producers: Brian Boyko and Helen Breeze
- Director: Brian Boyko
- Production Manager (New Zealand): Helen Breeze
- Production Manager (United States): Chris Morley
Do you want to be part of a documentary?
If you’re in the Auckland or Wellington areas from 22 Nov 2007 to 19 Dec 2007, and would like to help out with filming, lighting, transport, or anything else that you feel you could add to the production, please e-mail followingalexis@blogphilo.com.
Contact Information:
If you would like to be considered for interview, you would like to offer assistance with production or distribution, or have general questions about the project, feel free to e-mail followingalexis@blogphilo.com.
