When a documentary film wins a record 26 awards, people tend to take notice. I certainly did and recently saw Courting Condi, winner of the coveted Leonardo’s Horse Award for Best Documentary at the Milan International Film Festival, as well as the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the DaVinci Film Festival, and the Jury Award for the “Most Creative Concept” at the 2008 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.
What is it that has made this film so popular with both critics and audiences? A quest to gain access to Dr. Condoleezza Rice and the inner workings former President George W. Bush’s White House perhaps. After watching the movie, I can say at first you feel that it is all a joke, but the joke ends up on you. It is not all but a dream, when it comes to meeting Condoleezza Rice.
British filmmaker Sebastian Doggart follows actor and musician actor Devin Ratray (Buzz from Home Alone) around the country as he traces Dr. Rice’s history from childhood to the White House, attempting to meet up with her all throughout the film. Entourage‘s Adrian Grenier makes an appearance, as well as Carol Connors, Jim Norton, and Condoleezza Rice herself.
“Dr. Condoleezza Rice has been very clever at flying beneath the media radar,” says director Sebastian Doggart. “She is an extraordinary character. Hers is as fascinating a rise to power as President Barack Obama’s, but her response to the temptations of power gives her story a very different twist.”
The New York Times says, “it is smart, poetic, and informative. Very impressive how much of Rice’s life story is told in the film.” But equally as impressive is the lengths the Bush Administration went to in order to try and squash the production and release of the film.
Check out the official trailer below:
