Product Details

• Actors: Floyd Abrams, Carole Baron, Denny Chin, Al Franken, Bill O'Reilly
• Directors: Chris Hegedus, Nick Doob
• Writers: Al Franken
• Producers: D.A. Pennebaker, Ed Hersh, Frazer Pennebaker, Jordan Katon, Paul La Blanc
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: June 14, 2005
• Run Time: 67 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0007KI9QK
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,761 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "The First Amendment Project" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Generic title aside, The First Amendment Project isn't a boring civics lesson. Produced for the Sundance Channel and Court TV, the short-film collection is an engaging exploration of recent free speech battles (and yes, a few bad words do get spoken). The best known participants include documentary filmmaker Chris Hegedus (The War Room) and actor/director Mario Van Peebles (Baadasssss!), but all three films take a similar approach. Hegedus and Nick Doob (American High) are behind Fox vs. Franken, which looks at the suit filed against author Al Franken for using the phrase "fair and balanced" in the subtitle to his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Van Peebles' Poetic License focuses on the furor over former New Jersey Poet Laureate Amira Baraka's "Who Blew Up America," while John Walter (How to Draw a Bunny), in Some Assembly Required, trains his lens on the protests surrounding 2004's Republican National Convention. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Sundance Channel and Court TV present films from THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROJECT, a highly innovative and wildly entertaining anthology of original films that challenges viewers to examine their understanding of civil liberties. Directed by such award-winning indie filmmakers as Chris Hegedus (The War Room) and Mario Van Peebles (BaadAsssss!), these films explore such headline-grabbing First Amendment cases as political comedian Al Franken's hilarious battle with Fox News over a ridiculous trademark infringement.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sobering Yet Entertaining--Show It to Your Friends, August 9, 2009

By	Tom N. Emswiler "Beauty Lover" (Champaign, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The First Amendment Project is the product of a joint project between the Sundance Channel and Court TV. In spite this being a rather strange union, the end product is excellent. It consists of three short (23 minutes each) videos by different, well-known directors dealing with various aspects of threats to the First Amendment here in the USA. The three videos are:
1. Fox v Franken--This is the most entertaining of the three. Franken simply tells of Fox News suing him over his use of the term "Fair and Balanced" on the cover of his book LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM. Fox claimed that he was violating what they considered their "trade-mark" term "fair and balanced." Not much of a case here but the film makers have fun taking us to TV shows where Franken and O'Riley, who was especially angry over the book, were interviewed. The judge for the case also shares his own very frank observations on the case and Franken's lawyer can't help but smirk over the ease of defending Franken in this case. This is only indirectly a First Amendment case. Does a big corporation like Fox have the right to suppress a book which satirizes them in ways that they think are unfair? The case was really framed as a trade-mark law case. But the larger issue of free speech is behind it.
2. Poetic License also deals with the right of free speech. In this case does the controversial poet Amiri Baraka have the right to perform what is a deeply disturbing poem about 9/11 when he is the poet laureate of New Jersey and therefore a kind of public representative of the state? The poem argues that the real terrorists are here in the USA and they include a lot of really prominent people. The poem is quite long and we do not hear it in its entirety in the video itself. The entire poem as performed most movingly by Amiri Baraka is included in the DVD features, however, and it is well worth listening to. This film ably raises questions about how far an artist can offend the majority and still be protected by our first amendment.
3. Some Assembly Required deals with the right of assembly which is also a part of our First Amendment. It does this by showing the strong armed tactics of the New York City police used against the massive political demonstrations during the 2004 Republican National Convention. The filmmaker chooses some interesting protestors to focus on including a church organist from a quite conservative background.

All three of these films are certainly worth seeing and talking about with others. We need this kind of creative documentary work to keep us a free people.