In producing the new documentary The Way I See It, Academy Award winner Laura Dern gets passionate about the upcoming election and sheds lights on the nontransparency of our current president.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and has since been well received by critics.
5 Things You Need to Know:
- The doc follows former chief official White House photographer Pete Souza's journey with top secret clearance and total access to the president. He documented President Reagan and President Obama for eight years each and found a stark difference with the current president.
- Dern, who won an Oscar earlier this year for her co-starring role in Marriage Story, has long been outspoken about her liberal politics. "We have the luxurious privilege of having a vote and protecting our vote and making sure our vote is counted," she said. "It matters. It matters that we all vote. It matters that we protect the right that was so fought for, and what a luxury to have the opportunity to vote and impact and understand the office of the president and role within the administration, and what can be done even at the hardest of times."
- Souza was a photographer with the Chicago Tribune, stationed at the Washington, D.C. bureau from 1998 to 2007, during which he followed the rise of then-Senator Obama to the presidency.
- In 2017, Souza received a book deal from Little, Brown and Company to publish a book of photos from his tenure as White House photographer titled Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs.
- Upon Trump's inauguration as president in 2017, Souza began sharing pictures of Obama on his Instagram account, often as critical commentary on the new administration. In April 2017, he had over one million Instagram followers and reached two million in August 2018, as he continued to critique the Trump presidency through contrasting photographs of Obama.