ZED

This 2x52’ documentary will show two facets of the same man: the Candidate and the President and will question the limits of the presidential function. Barack Obama’s election is one of the most important events of our recent history. For many observers, Barack Obama’s strengths during the 2008 campaign have backfired against him in his first term: his sense of balance, proportion, his desire to seek consensus and even the power of his words seem to have left him powerless against an extremely violent economic and political context. Is he the victim of his own character or is he simply the victim of a terribly efficient system?

The narration will be based on the chronology of the story. We will select the events that lend themselves to an in-depth and subtle analysis. Thus the film will take us behind the scenes, like one would enter a battlefield. Thanks to interviews with Barack Obama’s closest advisors, the shrewdest political analysts as well as his detractors, the human and emotional element will accompany a rigorous political analysis. The archival footage will not simply be historic banners but will allow us to walk the halls of the White House, backstage with the President of the USA, capturing the man, his solitude under pressure. The dramatic plot will be inspired by the widely popular TV series «The West Wing» and will be the documentary’s main back bone.

Interviews will be led with James Traub, White House correspondent for the NY Times Magazine. William Karel (The World According to Bush, The Dark Side of the Moon, CIA: Secret Wars, Who Killed Maggie?, Secret of States: The President’s Men) has been scrutinizing America for years, its politicians, its dreams, its rifts. This documentary will give a new insight into this saga around the figure of Barack Obama, through his White House advisors and his unique personality. It’s a promising story that concerns us all. It’s a classic in the making.