Documentary filmmaker Heath Eiden (in red) chronicled the 2004 presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. His movie on ht subject will premiere on Jan. 26 at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier. Photo: Submitted Photo

By Andrew Nemethy Times Argus Staff

MONTPELIER – Five years after he met Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and three years after Dean's insurgent presidential campaign ended where it started in Burlington, documentary filmmaker Heath Eiden is ready to show his movie on the campaign.

"This story was just something I had to do," said Eiden, a resident of Stowe who "always had an affinity for politics." Eiden said he got his interest and inspiration in politics while growing up in Minnesota following the career of Sen. Paul Wellstone. He also won awards and a college scholarship for the historical documentaries he made in his native state.

Two sneak previews of the movie about the movement Dean spawned will be shown in Montpelier on Saturday Jan. 26 at the Savoy Theater and in Burlington on Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. at Merrill's Roxy Cinema for a donation of $10 or "whatever you think it's worth at the end," he said.

The 90-minute feature film, "Dean And Me: Roadshow Of An American Primary," follows Howard Dean in his run for President through the 2006 mid-term elections. Along the way, Eiden, an amateur journalist and historian who moved to Stowe with his wife from Manhattan, set out to capture the daily ins and outs of the campaign, which he felt "the mainstream media was somehow missing" (video clips can be seen at http://thegrassrootsmovie.com).

As Eiden tagged along through Dean's meteoric rise and crash, he captured the Dean movement, and the many characters on the center stage of American presidential politics, including Hillary Clinton, Martin Sheen, Ted Kennedy, Al Franken, David Gergen, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.

Eiden said the film shows the full campaign and leaves it to viewers to decide if this is any way to elect a President, saying his film is "not propaganda."

The experience of following Dean was draining, financially and emotionally, he said. "I basically robbed my kid's piggy bank" to follow Dean around, he quips.

Eiden said he wanted folks to know that they are not going to see anything like the final cut, since he's looking for an additional $25,000 to help get the movie into final edit and find a distributor for it.

"I should say straight up, the film isn't finished," he said. But even in rough form, it reiterates Dean's message on the trail, which Eiden said resonates even more today than it did four years ago.

"Vermonters should feel proud as they watch what is happening today on America's political landscape," said Eiden. "The people are saying 'enough' to Bush and the conservative mess that's being passed on to our children. Democratic National Committee Chairman Dean's warning in 2004 is now being trumpeted throughout the country by today's presidential candidates."

A key purpose for showing the film now, said Eiden, is that he wants folks to share in the project with the same bottom-up spirit with which the Dean campaign was run in 2004.

"People really felt like they were part of something during the height of that movement," said Eiden. "For many newcomers to the political process, it was the first time they really felt like they had a say in their own democracy."