Jonathan Goodman Levitt’s new documentary “Follow the Leader” arrives in the District for a weeklong run at Angelika Mosaic through Sept. 12. The film follows three young conservative politicos D.J., Nick and Ben during the 2008 presidential election.
David Kahen-Kashi: How did the film initially develop?
Jonathan Goodman Levitt: When I was teaching after 9/11, I really was struck by how the students’ political values and worldviews interchanged overnight in the wake of 9/11. And when I was thinking about moving back home, I really felt that I wanted to explore and understand… through the eyes of kids who grew up and learned what it meant to be American during a difficult time for our country.
DKK: What was the process of finding these three guys? How [did you approach them aboutmaking] a documentary about their life up to the point of the 2008 election?
JGL: I went to a lot of leadership camps and met a lot of guys and from then it’s really a question of casting, for lack of a better way of putting it. D.J. is… a very goofy, politically ravid kid who really doesn’t look the part of a politician, but is incredibly charming and charismatic and really quite unique. Ben is… a political loyalist [similar to] a lot of adults among the political parties that are active today. But Nick is really like this prototype of an all American kid who everybody in his small town was rooting for to succeed. Something that ties all three boys together is… I didn’t necessarily understand where their political values were coming from and… sensed a change coming for them.
DKK: Would you be willing to revisit these guys down the road and see how their lives have gone?
JGL: [I]f financing came into place.. I’m certainly open to it if they they are, but I think the bigger question is… whether they would want to do that again.
DKK: Are there any directors, films, or documentaries that informed your filmmaking style?
JGL: A lot of the filmmakers and films I love aren’t ones that are well known here. There’s a couple of documentary makers that come to mind based in Europe like Kim Longinotto and Heddy Honigmann.
I mean I always think of their work as really seminal and influential for me and… a lot of that is their hands off style, but also a lot of it is their emotional impact that their films have and the intimacy they have with their characters without imposing themselves into the film.
dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com
