IndieWIRE, one of the leading online new sources for independent films did a little write-up about The Delegates this past week. Check it out:

“The Delegates”

Highlighting the Democratic National Convention, Cameron Hickey’s documentary promises to give a behind-the-scenes look at how the delegates experience the convention, while critiquing our democratic process.

Having focused on human rights and social injustices in past films (”Garlic and Watermelons,” “The Alphabet Book”) with producing partner/wife, Lauren Feeney, the thought of doing a film on politics had never been of interest for the two until podcasting earlier in the year at the New Hampshire primaries for DoubleSpeak, an online radio show created by political insiders Matthew and Peter Slutsky. “We knew we were going to the convention and it occurred to me I wanted to do something that had a little more staying power than something that was just going to be interesting on that day,” says Hickey a few weeks before heading to Denver for the convention.

To find their subjects they sent out an e-mail blast to ten percent of the just under 5,000 delegates going to the convention. Hickey says they heard back from 55 interested delegates, including Hilary Clinton supporters who converted over to Barack Obama (some begrudgingly) during the convention, the mother of a solider killed in Iraq, a transgender delegate, a gay Unitarian Universalist Minster and a Iraq/Afghanistan war vet.

Though Hickey is aware of the historical significance of this convention, he says that isn’t what motivated him to make the film. “We want to make something that is a bit different from what you’re going to get out of the news media,” he says. “I would love to be filming one of our subjects and have Obama in the background because we’re not focusing on him while everyone else is.”

Financed through online donations, the film was shot on three HD cameras by Hickey, Feeney and D.P. Jason Martin. Hickey is realistic of his film’s distribution possibilities and hopes to build an audience through the Internet and self-distribute the film. It’s co-produced by DoubleSpeak and Hickey/Feeney’s company Pattern Films.

[For more information, please visit www.thedelegates.net]

Many of you have been asking us about the progress of the film, so here’s a brief update…

We are in the midst of finishing the process of digitizing and organizing the dozens and dozens of hours of film that we shot in Denver. Cameron is working hard to get this done, as well as looking for a top-notch editor to begin cutting some trailers for the film, as well as other highlight reels we can use to begin promoting the project and the post-production.

Over the coming months, we will be working very hard to put the film together, raise the money we’ll need, work out the music, licensing, etc. It will be an exciting and exhausting, but we have a great team and we are confident that this film is going to be a big hit in 2009. We want to once again thank everyone for their support and make sure you stay tune for more updates on DoubleSpeak and The Delegates in the weeks and months to come.

We are working hard to get some press about our trip across America. If you know any reporters who you think would be interested in covering our story - a story of triumphant in the face of adversity, shoot us an email. In the meantime, check out this morning’s hit in the New York Jewish Week.

Political Podcasting, On The Road
Twins take up their parents’ minivan and the progressive cause in run-up to midterm elections.
Liel Leibovitz

The road trip is an old American tradition. The political road trip, for aspiring new media journalists, however, may be something new: It may have started four months ago, when Peter and Matthew Slutsky, 25, two Philadelphia-born twins, said goodbye to friends, family and employers and got in a minivan headed for the great open.

It was, in part, an odyssey born of frustration. After working on Democratic campaigns — most recently John Kerry’s — the Slutskys decided to switch sides.

“We decided we were more interested in taking the media angle,” said Peter Slutsky. “And so, we developed a podcast,” a self-produced radio show of sorts available for download over the Internet (www.doublespeakshow.com). It gets a few thousand hits a day, which is considered a respectable number.

The podcast’s first interviewees were politicians in the Washington, D.C. area, where the two were living. But a few months into serving as the hosts of their own program, they realized the only way to get to the truly interesting candidates in the districts that really mattered was to literally take their show on the road.

“So we took a leave of absence from our jobs,” said Peter, “and we bought a minivan from our parents.” (The twins are brothers of Jewish Week staff writer Carolyn Slutsky.)

Together with their childhood friend, Josh Skaroff, they’ve covered more than 20 states in the last several months, interviewing nearly every major candidate on the ballot in next week’s midterm elections. “We had incredible access,” said Peter, “and it shows that campaigns are looking at people like us, because we’re a new way to get the message out. It’s very successful.”

Read the rest here…

My favorite line:

The trip, of course, wasn’t all politics. There were hoagies and muffins and all other manner of fast food inevitable when on the road. There was breathtaking scenery, distracting even the very purpose-driven team. And there was also a buffalo that almost ended up as road kill. But overall, Peter said, there was a sense of hope.

It’s all about hoagies and hope!