Filmmakers picked the right pol to profile

TELEVISION | Duo won Obama's trust, got 'historic' shots

Filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams were in the right place at the right time.

The place was Africa and the time was the fall of 2006. They were in the early stages of filming a documentary examining the political experience of a promising young politician of their generation.

But "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," which debuts on HBO Tuesday night, doesn't include any of that Africa footage. Instead, it follows 19 months of daily ups and downs of a presidential campaign that ends in the White House.

The filmmakers were on board early, gaining them cred with Obama and campaign organizers.

"It was never a clearly defined proposal and then a blanket acceptance," said actor Edward Norton, one of the movie's producers. "It was access by stages and slow increments."

By the time Obama was an actual presidential candidate, Rice and Sams were well known to the senator and his campaign advisors, David Axelrod and David Plouffe, and communications director, Robert Gibbs.

The filmmakers had terrific access to all aspects of the campaign including moments with the Obama family, a phone conversation with the candidate's grandmother and debate preparations. Young campaign workers across the country also are a focus.

"I think the principal achievement of the movie is that it really documents who the people were at all levels of the campaign," Norton said.

Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the Sun-Times, is interviewed in the film. "The debate preparation footage is very rare and very hard to get," Sweet said. "It's important for the historic record."

Rice lost her brother in the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks, an event that galvanized her political awakening. In 2004, she saw Obama's Democratic convention speech.

"That's when the idea of making a political documentary came into my mind," Rice said. "It was clear Obama was inspiring people to think differently about politics. I wanted to capture the effect of that."

Co-director Alicia Sams, who now lives in Oak Park, came on board, and Norton's production company, Class 5, agreed to produce the project.

The Iowa caucus was a turning point. Up to then, Rice and Sams felt they had some interesting footage but that was about it.

"It wasn't until he won the caucus," said Rice, that we thought, 'OK, we can make a film. Now it'll have an ending even if the primary is the end of it all.' "

While Obama's meteoric rise to the White House has been well documented in the press, the filmmakers also focus on the behind-the-scenes story of the passionate campaigners who helped him attain the presidency.

One of Sams' favorite moments in the film occurred on the night of the March 5 primaries, a night when Obama backers were hopeful that he would win a number of states and move closer to wrapping up the nomination.

"We were in campaign headquarters, and everyone looked exhausted," Sams recalled. "The length of the campaign was showing on their faces. I was surprised by all that emotion. I loved these off-the-cuff moments that we captured."