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Episode 5 - Run, Oprah, Run

We're halfway our journey across non-voting America and it seems that lack of faith in politicians is a big reason why people don't vote. Some Americans would rather have a talkshow host running the country...


Almost a hundred million Americans don’t vote. Even when they're electing their president and, with that, the most powerful political leader in the world. A year before the presidential elections of 2008 a crew of young European filmmakers goes on a journey all across the country in a little old motorhome to search for America’s missing voters. Who are theyω Why don’t they voteω Can a young and fresh presidential candidate as Barack Obama make them voteω How would American politics change if more young people, single women, poor white people, African-Americans and Latino’s would start votingω Who better than Oprah could get America’s non-voters to vote in 2008.

Director
Kasper Verkaik (1979) "Dear Oprah" is his debut as filmmaker. Prior to that he made documentaries for Dutch national public radio, and wrote freelance for several magazines and newspapers. Early 2007 he finished his Master's in Communication Science with a thesis about the Iraq war coverage by US news media, based on interviews with numerous journalists at major US newspapers and tv networks. It received the award for best thesis of 2007 from the national trade magazine of Dutch journalists, and Kasper is currently working on a documentary about the same subject. He also makes theater and this year co-founded the young television lab The Formatfactory. Kasper works and lives in New York and Amsterdam.

Camera: Pierre Rezus
Sound: Jaap Hermans
Editor: Axel Skovdal Roelofs