Gerrymandering

Redistricting reform efforts are cropping up everywhere!  I had a nice chat a few days ago with Nikki from Fair Boundaries, a group in Utah working to get a measure on the 2010 ballot similar to Prop. 11.  I put her in touch with Kathay and Ellen from Fair Districts Florida for advice on her campaign.

We hope that Gerrymandering will become a rallying tool for local groups and a locus of organization for national reform. Having a film as a flashpoint is something that the redistricting community hasn’t had until now, and I’m happy for it to be used as a conduit for burgeoning reform efforts to link up with more established (or completed campaigns) and exchange ideas. If you happen to be reading this and are starting an effort in your state, please do write to us through the website - we can help put you in touch with folks who have been flogging this issue for a long time.

As we’ll show in the film, democracy is a process, and the more people across the country that are participating in tinkering with the engine, the better.

Last week, I was invited by Justin Levitt (author of the great Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting) from the Brennan Center for Justice and the League of Women Voters to show some clips from Gerrymandering at a steering meeting the League was hosting in Tarrytown, NY. The goal of the meeting (as I understand it) was to determine what actions the League would take in relation to redistricting during the next election cycle, and a number of our characters, most notably Gerry Hebert and superstar Kathay Feng, were in attendance.

I took an incredibly early train up, arrived about fifteen minutes before my alloted 9AM start time and met Justin in the lobby who led me to the breakfast room where I bumped into Gerry, Michael McDonald and others who appear in the film. After a quick tech check, I showed off our wonderfully odd opening sequence, the intro to Prop. 11/Kathay and our Ardmore, OK bit. All are still under construction, but seemed to be well received even in embryonic form. Afterwards, I answered a couple of questions about the content of the film (including a tough, loaded inquiry about how we’re handling the upsides of gerrymandering with regards to racial redistricting), invited everyone there to be in touch for screening partnerships and headed back to Manhattan for further editing.

A short talk, but I think we’ll pick up the support of LWV for the release which will help us tie up other big advocacy groups. The more the merrier…

Turns out we’ve been waiting on a few pieces of archival footage from the California Legislature because the office that handles the material was unable to afford postage in the wake of the budget fiasco.

The Fair Districts Florida effort to reform the state’s redistricting process (FL is one of, if not the most, gerrymandered state in the nation) continues to pick up steam with further press coverage:

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Miami Injury Board

I continue to be impressed with the amount of ink Ellen and her crew are generating, and I’m glad we’re going to be able to showcase their efforts in Gerrymandering. Ellen also turned me on to State Senator Dave Aronberg, whose district runs from the Atlantic to Gulf of Mexico. He’s got a great sequence in the film involving some high-stakes armadillo racing…

Gerrymandering had a follow-up story in the Salem News on Friday.

I’m behind on my shoot log as I still need to put together my thoughts about our last two shoots, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. Sam’s still cutting, and I’m assessing where we need to go next to round out all of our stories. At this point, we’ve shot in eight states, including D.C., and may well add a couple more to that list. We probably won’t know exactly what the plan is until August or September when everyone’s had a chance to review the assembly cut.

In the meantime, here’s a link to something I do when I’m not working on Gerrymandering. It’s an “unconventional” video interview with Lake Tahoe director Fernando Eimbcke.

I’ve been too busy lately to really dig into the latest installments of Swing State Projects ambitious and excellent redistricting series, but this post, featuring DavidNYC’s most favorite gerrymandered district caught my eye.  If I’m not mistaken this is the famed “Zorro district” drawn in the early 1990s in the wake of the Thornberg v. Gingles decision.  I’m trying to think of my favorite, though I am partial to Tom Hofeller of the RNC’s “flat cat roadkill” district drawn by the Democrats in Georgia around the same time as the Zorro district.

Currently in Jury Duty - thank god for wireless.  Aside from that, we continue shooting and editing, shooting and editing.