Press Inquiries:

Melody Serafino – B-Side Communications Director
212.751.3486
mserafino@groupsjr.com

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Crawford Press Notes: PDF (257 kb) & Word (286 kb)

Synopsis

“Small Town Values” … big time politics’ winning slogan. But does the political machine, so desirous of this wholesome image, actually value the small town itself?

In 1999, then Governor George W. Bush bought a ranch in the one-stoplight town of Crawford, Texas, calling it “home” just in time to set his sights on the White House. Having invented Bush’s “folksy image,” the campaign’s victory thrusts Crawford onto the world stage and an insular community of barely 700 explodes overnight.

While the high school band plays the inauguration and the Baptist pastor declares a miracle, Crawfordites sell souvenirs hand over fist, finding themselves nearly trampled under the heels of the international press corps, patriotic tourists and boomtown opportunists. Then, four and a half years into Bush’s tenure, Cindy Sheehan and her peace movement arrive at the doorstep of the “Western White House.” Crawford takes center stage.

As 20,000 impassioned protesters and counter-protesters battle on Crawford’s tiny streets, the symbol of the “small town” begins to change. Exacerbated tensions place pressure on the community as well as on the liberties Americans take for granted. And after seven years of this political stagecraft, a President’s and a community’s choices have an even graver human impact. Left to deal with the aftermath, the real people of Crawford are changed forever.

Now comes CRAWFORD, an often funny, deeply human story told by unforgettable characters. As witness to one man’s (and his spin doctor’s) decision to intertwine his life with the real small town America, the film ultimately becomes a microcosm of a nation in flux — a unique and poignant reflection on the Bush era.

Longer Synopsis:

CRAWFORD is an award-winning documentary about a small town thrust into big-time politics; the human impact of political machinations. The recent Republican Vice Presidential nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin casts new light onto the long tradition of campaigns creating political narratives that use the mystique of small towns as their centerpiece.

Governor Palin’s messages, pivoting on her folksy persona, reignite the culture wars between small towns and the population centers of a more cosmopolitan America. We’ve seen this before. Ask the people of Crawford, Texas, whose town was thrust into the spotlight when George W. Bush moved in, as he announced his candidacy for President.

CRAWFORD asks the question: Does the political machine so intent on capitalizing on the notion of “small town values” actually value the small town itself? In 1999, one small town was thrown on a rollercoaster ride to find out the hard way.

Moments before setting his sights on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Governor George W. Bush buys a ranch in Crawford, Texas and called it “home” That moment thrusts Crawford onto the world stage. An insular community, our living breathing “small town” finds itself trampled under the heels of the international press corps. They set up their satellites, frame their shots around bale of hay and a political narrative is born. Tourists flock. Souvenir vendors see business boom overnight. Diners overflow with politicians, and Crawford gets caught up in its fifteen minutes of fame.

Suddenly fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Local tensions begin to flare, the residents speak out – and CRAWFORD’s characters open up on camera.

We follow a freethinking high school teacher, her students, a shop owner, and a cowboy, — as well as other Crawford locals — as their town – and their lives begin to change. When the town newspaper endorses the “other” candidate tensions grow. Will these individual lives and more importantly their relationships with one another be irreversibly altered by this single decision of a presidential candidate? And when the Bush Ranch becomes the “Western White House” will there be any going back?

Just as the town is starting to feel the heat of the national spotlight the stakes suddenly get higher. Cindy Sheehan and her peace movement arrive at Crawford’s doorstep. The tiny town takes center stage.

An encampment starts to form as the fallen soldier’s mother calls out the President on the eve of his vacation. 20,000 impassioned protesters and counter-protestors battle in Crawford’s backyards.. And Crawford’s “small town” image begins to change. Exacerbated tensions place pressure on the community and the liberties Americans take for granted. Our most cherished freedoms of speech and the press – not to mention this small town’s actual values – all are called into question.

Horse-breaker Ricky Smith must protect his town from the “low-lifes” pouring in; teacher Misti Turbeville must confront the school’s administration to protect a lone progressive student; while the town’s elders fight to maintain a sense of normalcy.

Seven years of political drama ultimately take their toll leaving the real people of Crawford to deal with the aftermath.

CRAWFORD tells an often funny and deeply human story about’ real “real people” in small town America whose lives are altered by the lone choice of a soon to be President.

Director’s Statement

I was duped. I didn’t know George W. Bush wasn’t from Crawford, Texas.

When I learned Bush moved to Crawford in ’99, just before announcing his candidacy for President, I realized how well his political stagecraft had worked; I’d bought the folksy narrative — the origin myth — completely. I wanted to see this town he’d made into a symbol. And I wanted to make a film indicting him for it. Thankfully, I found something far more compelling—the 705 people of Crawford, Texas.

On our first shoot, we were told that if we went to the Fina Gas Station before dawn we could find some of Crawford’s farmers drinking their morning coffee. We walked in, groggy, at 5:30am. Six men sitting around a table stopped mid-conversation and looked up. Their faces read: “who the hell are these kids and what are they doing here?”

I eventually screwed up the courage to break the ice. I said “good morning,” introduced myself and sat down to drink a coffee. At the table, they’d rigged up a little red mailbox-like flag with “B.S.” written on it, which they’d pull on each other about every five minutes. They asked me “what brings you to Crawford?” I said “I’m not really sure.” One of them pulled the flag; we all laughed. Pug Meyers, Bill Holmes and their friends were friendly, shy, funny, wily—skeptical of the media, but willing to give us the benefit of the doubt. Two hours later, we took out the camera. By the end of the day, we’d met several people who would become our main subjects. And in three years we had a movie.

We arrived in Crawford before Cindy Sheehan and the subsequent massive protests. This made a huge difference in the relationships that we formed with the people of Crawford and the way in which they let us into their lives. And when things exploded in town, they were willing to let us follow them behind the scenes of the drama.

I’m proud of the film and I think the people of Crawford are, too. For some eight years, Bush and the White House press corps made Crawford part of a story. Now the people of Crawford tell their own.

As elections near and we prepare to turn the page on the Bush era, we’re beginning to reflect on it. We can look back through the eyes of the media, through historians and pundits, who will write books and articles and essays. Or, we can cut through all that, step behind the scenes and get a unique take on the last seven years—people’s history of the Bush era from some of the most dynamic, colorful characters you’ll ever see on screen.

-David Modigliani

About the subjects

Some of Our Characters:

Norma Nelson-Crow – Norma returns home to open a successful souvenir shop. She becomes a master at marketing all things “Crawford.” Business has grown in a once-dead town, but what do the protests mean for her store?

Ken Judy – Ken is Vice President of Crawford’s Bank and a hardcore Bush Supporter who doesn’t care for the media’s choice of backdrops. He churns as the small town’s valued insularity explodes. Can they get it back?

Mike Murphy – Mike is a conservative Baptist preacher who sees Bush’s arrival as an answered prayer. His witty phrases on the church marquee make international papers, but how does will deal with the film’s shattering tragedy?

Robert Murphy – Robert coaches the Division 2A state champion Crawford Pirates. A trip to the White House isn’t a bad motivational tool, but what does the teams motto — “everybody same” – mean for the other kids in town?

Leon Smith – Leon runs Crawford’s newspaper, the Lonestar Iconoclast, which endorses Bush in 2000, but then famously endorses his opponent, John Kerry in 2004, sending reverberations with dire consequences through the town.

Ricky Smith – Ricky is a horse-breaker who remembers when you could trade guns in the school parking lot—“now there is a tourist under every rock.” It’s all novel until land values skyrocket and Cindy Sheehan, who “should be hung for treason,” comes to town. How does he protect his values and his way of life?

Misti Tubeville – Misty is a progressive-minded high school teacher who was born in Crawford and has returned to teach its kids. How does she protect freethinking in a conservative town and what does it mean for her family?

Tom Warlick – Tom is a pro-Bush 16-year-old in the Crawford High School Band. But, when the band answers Bush’s invitation to the 2000 inauguration in Washington, the crowds of protesters Warlick sees send him to the Internet with new ideas. As his political outlook changes and he gets called a “terrorist” in town, he battles to maintain his identity.