Dick-George, Tenn-Tom (2007)
What’s in a handshake?
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon visited Mobile, AL for 104 minutes, during which time he shook 100 feet of hands, lost a cufflink, and shared a stage with Governor George Wallace. This sardonic look at their political rivalry examines the ulterior motives behind the creation of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, one of the largest earth moving projects in human history, and the attempt on Wallace’s life less than a year later.
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Production Notes
2007 / USA / 12 min / Color
The film, constructed from archival photos, Nixon’s recordings, and narration, borrows from the documentary practices of that period while wryly manipulating both form and content into a mischievous tone that befits the subjects’ at the heart of the story.
Awarded the “Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking” at Alabama’s Sidewalk Film Festival, Dick-George, Tenn-Tom was a regional smash, invited to showcase in the renowned Southern Circuit Film Tour and playing in over 40 cities in the South. The film provided a foothold for directors Gideon Kennedy and Marcus Rosentrater into a network of filmmakers, film programmers, archivists, documentarians, and storytellers that laid a groundwork for the productive paths yet to come.
