AFI Dallas International Film Festival - ‘CRAWFORD’

(USA, 2008, 74 mins)

Directed By: David Modigliani

Documentary filmmaker David Modigliani explores a deceptively simple question: What happens to the 705 people of Crawford, Texas, when George W. Bush moves to town?

Crawford exploded overnight when Bush moved there and later declared his candidacy for President, using the tiny town as the perfect set-piece to project a folksy image. The town was thrust into the spotlight and instantly overrun with reporters and tourists. Shops opened; Main Street boomed; and the locals watched themselves on national TV. But the changes didn't stop there. Tensions grew between locals with opposing political points of view, and in 2005, the President's mounting problems followed him home in the form of Cindy Sheehan's peace movement when 20,000 impassioned protesters and counter-protesters battled it out on Crawford's tiny streets.

Bush's tenure as president will soon end; but the aftermath of his time in office may be felt in Crawford for quite some time.

Information from the AFI website