Heath Eiden, Director, Producer

I am the director of Dean and Me and I live in Stowe, Vermont with my wife Sandra and our two small sons, Atticus and Eames. After a career in publishing in New York, I moved to Vermont, worked as a local features reporter, and became swept up in the neighborly Howard Dean campaign as it evolved from backyard gatherings to national prominence.

In Minnesota, where I grew up, political life is similarly rooted. A
strong grassroots tradition shapes state and national politics. I saw
Paul Wellstone, a professor and local environmentalist bring a crowd to its feet and himself to the Senate on a wave of authentic popularity, despite the odds. I got on board Walter Mondale’s ’84 campaign in an attempt to defeat a tough incumbent, Ronald Reagan. That was the subject of my first documentary, The Democratic Tradition, soon followed by The Sioux Conflict of 1862, about the largest mass execution by hanging in U.S. history, and Cliques: Imaginary Walls, on the insidious power of social branding when young.

in Washington, D.C., I graduated with a degree in journalism from George Washington University. I joined the corporate world in New York, got a graduate degree in publishing from New York University, got married, and later moved to Vermont to raise a family. When Howard Dean began talking to folks at backyard barbeques my Minnesota democratic roots resurfaced. The next thing I knew I was having my own house party for Dean and making my next documentary.

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Deanna Kamiel, Producer

Professionally, I am a documentary filmmaker. Personally, I am a family friend of the director, Heath Eiden. Not too long ago, I was also one of his regular babysitters.

Heath contacted me for production advice shortly after Dean announced his presidential bid. I recommended no zooms, lots of stationary shots and a good microphone.

Before the primaries, at his and Sandra's place in Vermont, I looked at Heath's footage and got excited. He had genuine scenes of real people doing grassroots democratic politics, sometimes, ironically and comically, in opposition to Democratic Party professionals and mainstream media pundits.

Later, we edited a10-minute short for potential distributors. Al Franken picked up on it and featured it on a talk show or two. On election night, it seemed a good idea for Heath to watch returns with Darius Mitchell, a fellow grassroots observer from Lowell, MA he met on the campaign.

Now, the film continues to follow grassroots history as it continues to be made.

Iris Cahn, Producer and Editor

Besides chairing the film depart-ment at Purchase College, Iris Cahn has edited many feature films and television shows. Her accomplishments are too extensive to list here but if you liked the foot scene in The Rutles, you can thank her. She edited for Saturday Night Live when it was funny and steered gigantic features like Powaqqatsi.