Two weeks before the election of Barack Obama, I asked my friends around the world to record their experiences of 11/4/08, a day that had become “historic” before it had even taken place.
In Phase One of this transmedia-project, a feature vérité documentary, we witness a global canvas begin to unfold: in St. Louis and Austin, idealistic volunteers think they can turn their states blue; in Chicago, voter lines are made even longer when Obama shows up to cast his own vote; in Alaska, children seem to be as invested in the election results as their parents; in Paris, an organization discusses whether there could ever be a black President of France; in Dubai, Berlin, Geneva and New Delhi, expatriates express their emotion from a distance; and in Harlem, a felon casts doubt on whether any of this will actually affect his life. As we approach the final announcement of Obama’s victory at 11pm EST, what emerges is a portrait of how people choose to live through “history”: the celebration of a new future remaining entangled with the universally visible tensions of the past.
The premiere of this documentary will coincide with the launch of a website that will mark the beginning of Phase Two: an effort to accumulate the most comprehensive collection of non-news footage shot on 11/4/08. The original version of the film will be updated on the website as a living document, but the footage will also be made available for users at home to edit their own versions of that day and then upload for all to see.