In 2008, Francesco Paravati, a freelance journalist from Italy, followed Barack Obama during his historic and victorious presidential campaign in the United States. The journey starts in Denver and continues through all the swing states covering the most important events–witnessing the hopes, dreams and expectations of his supporters and his opponents–until November 4th, election night in Chicago when Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President of the United States. Paravati’s extraordinary adventure is now an 80min documentary capturing the more than 20,000 miles through 14 States into the heart of some of the most remote places in America. It is a journey centered around a belief in change for a better world, as expressed in Obama’s political message.
Trailer:
It’s been 12 years since that personal and journalistic adventure that captured an unforgettable moment, and is the memory of the new millennium, the election of the first Black president, and a time when politics was seen as a service to the community. An era that soon gave way to the fleeting glory of social media approval, the new and unexpected protagonist of current elections.
This documentary is even more relevant today, after the most recent heated election campaign of Trump vs. Biden, which saw the victory of the Democratic candidate rekindling great emotional and political participation, not without controversy, for US citizens and a renewed enthusiasm for the US in the rest of the world.
