Michael Moore's New Documentary
Controversial Filmmaker Plans Follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11
The new untitled Michael Moore project will explore some of the same topics from his provocative 2004 documentary about the Bush administration's policies.
Scheduled for release in 2009, the specific subject of Moore’s newest documentary, like his previous projects, will not be disclosed until closer to the film’s release date in order to allow the filmmaker to do his research without interference.
Documentary Has Been a Work in Progress
Filmmaker Michael Moore has made three of the top five highest-grossing documentaries of all time with Fahrenheit 9/11, the 2008 Academy Award nominee Sicko about America’s health care system, and Bowling for Columbine, the Academy Award winner for best documentary in 2003. He also has written and starred in the television shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.
Paramount Vantage, which will handle international distribution of the film, launched the project into the international marketplace this week in Cannes, with Moore in attendance. The Cannes Film Festival makes a perfect place to launch his newest project because Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Festival’s Palme D-Or award there for best picture in 2004. Overture Films is in charge of American distribution.
In taped interviews in Cannes, Moore said his new film (tentatively titled “While America Slept”) has been a work in progress for the past few years and is the next logical step for him as a filmmaker. Though not actually a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore said the new documentary delves more deeply into America’s global conduct and reputation, which also were explored in the earlier film.
Nick Meyer, president of Paramount Vantage, said in a prepared statement: “Michael is one of the most inspiring, innovative, and thought-provoking filmmakers of our generation. With his mark on our culture and politics, Moore is renowned and iconic within the international marketplace.”
Fahrenheit 9/11
This groundbreaking documentary is Moore’s extremely critical examination of the Bush administration’s actions following 9/11. Thoroughly researched (though heavily slanted), Moore looks at Presidential policy, the Saudi connection, FBI alerts, the USA Patriot Act, the War in Iraq, and other hot topics that have won Moore the highest praise and the most stinging criticism for his work. As in other Moore documentaries, Fahrenheit 911 includes fun facts, humorous notes, shocking revelations, and heart-breaking admissions.
- Fahrenheit 9/11
- Director: Michael Moore
- Run time: 122 minutes
- Rating: R
- DVD Bonus Features Include: The Release of Fahrenheit 9/11; Iraq, Pre-War featurette; Homeland Security, Miami Style featurette; Outside Abu Ghraib Prison; Eyewitness Accounts from Samara, Iraq; Arab-American comedians; Condeleezza Rice’s 9/11 Commission testimony; Bush Rose Garden press briefing.
For more information about documentary films, read Movie Review of Pageant, I Think We’re Alone Now, and Young @ Heart Movie Review.
