Playing This Year: Conservative Documentaries
A decade ago, there were only one or two documentary films screening at CPAC, the annual meeting of conservative activists. This year, there were more than 20.
As independent financing and filmmaking becomes more accessible, conservatives are turning to movies to get their message out to a larger, younger audience.
In the main CPAC auditorium Saturday, headliners such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz filled the seats, but it was standing-room only in a smaller room down the hall, too. The conference room had become the convention's theater.
Lights dimmed and a quote from Thomas Jefferson flashed onto the screen: "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper."
The film is called Hating Breitbart. It's a documentary about the polarizing conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart, who died last year, not long after appearing at the 2012 CPAC.
"You need to tell a story," says the film's director, Andrew Marcus. "You need to have a protagonist and an antagonist, just basic storytelling stuff."
Marcus says that films like his are the way to get the conservative story out to a broader demographic.
Documentary film has long been dominated by directors who lean liberal. Think Michael Moore and Oliver Stone. That's changing, though.
Just last year, the conservative documentary 2016: Obama's America got wide distribution and made money. The theme of the film is that President Obama's politics are rooted in 20th century anti-colonialism.
"Film offers an opportunity to reach a much wider audience," says Dinesh D'Souza, the writer and director of 2016. He's also the author of Obama's America and The Roots of Obama's Rage.
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