this week on q&a, jonathan goodman levitt discusses "follow the leader." >> jonathan goodman levitt, documentarian. did you know when you went to stanford and studied psychology and got a masters in social psychology that you wanted to go into this kind of work. >> i didn't initially. i feel the time in stanford i wouldn't want to be in the lab for the rest of my life so i decided to apply for a full scholarship i was lucky enough to get. that helped me to shift over

fulltime in film making. >> why did you originally study psychology. >> i think a lot of us want to understand how we tick ourselves and that was our initial motivation. i think i had an interesting upbringing where i didn't really understand what was happening in my family life. my parents have been through a divorce. and the i really think through that i wanted to understand how we all think. >> where did you grow up? >> grew up in new jersey, in essex county half hour west in north caldwell. >> your family, what's the status today of your parents? what do they do? >> my mother is a grammar school librarian and my father is a largely retired lawyer. so he works a lot as well. >> anybody in your family do documentary s? >> not that i know of. >> no one in my family works with the media and nobody does anything related either.

they took it to the democratic national convention and the republican national convention, you're still working the documentary across the country. why. >> it's a slow burn. it takes a long time to catch on in a way. we have a relief that you're kind enough to come to with your wife, victoria. i was flattered by that. but it's really a backwards distribution in a way. more people are getting to see the film now and my being around to sell the film, if you will, and talk about it with people, i think, in an additional draw. we're doing the college and community tour as well that i think is really where a lot of people are going see the film. of course, a lot of people will go to see it on digital itunes, or amazon as well. these live events are finding really useful.

>> it's a feature director. i worked as a producer on others. producing three other films now. the personal projects i made, each of the features are taken seven years from inception to broadcast to eventual release. >> follow the leader is what? >> it's a coming of age story. a political coming of age story for real. about three teenage boys who want to be president. we followed them over three years. they basically figured out what they believe and what task they want to do in the future. >> why did you do this? where did you get the idea? >> i was living in london for ten years over the 9/11 period and the aftermath. the start of the war on terror, if you will.

i wanted to explore what it meant to be an american. when i was thinking of moving back here, it was very important for me. >> how did you notice the mindset changing. what were the things you saw? >> the things people would come out with, students would say about what we should do in the world, this doctrine of preemptive war that seemed to be adopted wholeheartedly by a lot of my students in periods strongly right after 9/11. that really struck me. someone like myself who grew up in relative peacetime in the '80s and '90s or '70s and '80s, perhaps, never came out with something like that. things that were largely conservative in a way, like the doctrine that we have of, you know, going to war preemptively

or targeted killings halfway around the world sort of viewed as noncontroversial. and people were saying we were in the midst of a liberal revolution in the country. didn't really wash for me. i wanted to explore the contra diktss of the new generation. >> three main characters. who are they? >> ben, d.j., and nick. they're basically three teenage upper middle class white boys who i know is really quite striking for a lot of people. but i think what we wanted to do in the film was really explore the baseline political reality in the country, by looking at what's happening for those that are avatars for traditional leaders in america. a lot of people will come to the film about -- come to any film about the leaders and they expect to see a multicultural tapestry of what america really looks like. i think our country is really still run politically, at least, largely by upper middle class,

relatively privileged white men. and i think reacting to that is really what i'm trying to do for viewers. >> the three of them come from what states? what communities? >> they come from the first 13 colonies. springfield, virginia, d.j. is from the massachusetts-new hampshire border. >> let's watch the opening and see the three young boys. and what year would this have been in the open ing? >> when we starting to film was 2006. all of the boys at that time started off conservative in their political views. as we'll see in the rest of the film as we talk about it, we go to three different directions. >> and they're again, how old? >> 16 in the film. >> in the end, how old. >> 19.

>> the interview you see in the film, you'll see it in the opening sections as well. the interviews were filmed one or two years after the main action was filmed. we filmed over five years. the footage you see is filmed from 20062011. >> to help folks watching this and not being able to see the whole thing, d.j. is from -- >> bethune, massachusetts. >> and ben is from -- >> springfield, virginia. >> and ben is from -- >> milford, pennsylvania. >> let's run a minute and a half so people can see what we're talking about.

>> less and less society, what are we becoming? >> we are -- every issue. >> the war on terror. may be a long road. it gets frustrating at times. trying to create a better place for us all to live. >> we're not deadbeats. we're not the bad people. ♪ america america ♪

>> i real lell felt the history of that represents the traditional leadership in the country. a few thousand boys and girls while i was researching the film for years before i started filming, i felt that program represents the tradition that we think of when we think of leaders like bill clinton, mike dukakis, tom brokaw, neil armstrong, they all went to boise state as well. the fact that they went there ties them together in the first sequence of the film. 2 1/2 minutes in the film.

it sets the tone. >> bill clinton, john f. kennedy at age 16 went to boise nation in the rose garden. >> he did. yeah. that footage -- we were trying to work that into the film for sometime. >> we wanted to have the older leaders look back on their experiences. i had to throw back interviews like i did with tom brokaw and others. i wanted the boys to reflect for themselves about their experience and the path oh of what we're going with film changed. >> where did you go to boise state and what was the impact on you? >> i went to boise state in 1993. i wouldn't really say that the impact was -- >> where? >> in new jersey. >> new jersey. okay. >> i think the programs in my experience going and attending

the research, the programs are different in every state. they're different depending on what's happening in the country. so whate with see in the beginning of follow the leader is really a sort of distilled wartime mentality. like a wartime mentality. almost perpetual war, if you will, at the time in 2006. that the country was undergoing at the time. and my feeling in starting there was that, okay, you know different types of news are beginning to permeate the american landscape. and over the next few years with these boys come of age and grow up, we're going to see the changes in some of them and they'll have different reactions to the changes happening in the country. >> what have you found that the american legion boise nation part of this. i know they sponsor some in the state. is there a certain dogma they're trying to teach? >> every state is different as we said. it's a largely conservative program teaching largely traditional values.

i think they bring in people from all political stripes. but if we look at the people of democratic, republican politics, if you will, you know, they're all still relatively traditional in their values. and i don't mean politically, i mean more philosophically traditional. there's not much between them depending on party. >> this is nick and his family. it's about 1:20. >> hi. >> hi. >> you know what i have here? these are all nicky's awards. the volunteer service award from president bush he just got.

photograph fist. a thumbs up, america. they give him the bronze medal for it. overall, he did an outstanding job, right, nick? i want to say thank you. how fortunate i am to be the first recipient of this. how grateful i was to my parents to bring me into this community. it's been great growing up here. i feel so fortunate. >> my great grandparents got off of the boat from ellis island. they just wanted an opportunity. and here i am today capitalizing on that opportunity. >> being a good leader, it has to be a characteristic some people have, some people don't. >> we're not all born the same way. >> nick was confident in himself? what was your reaction to that?

what whiz reaction when he saw the film? >> all of the boys loved the film, actually, i was really heartened by that. i'm not sure he's confident. he's an all american leader, really. he's the avatar for this guy coming up in a small town where everybody in town knowles him. everybody in town roots for them. thinks they're going be president some day. that's the role nick plays in the film. >> mom was proud of her son. did you find that wherever you went? >> i did. nick's parents are particularly proud. and they've been wonderful throughout the distribution, continuing that pride, you know, almost every screening we have, they come. >> let's see d.j. from massachusetts. >> that's me.

so when i run for new hampshire one day for the primaries, i was in new hampshire. favorite son. there's my wall of fame. these are originals. bobby kennedy, '68. various other candidates. >> regardless, they're like rock stars. governors, senators, presidents. people i look up to. >> this is an article in the paper. young political guru leads campaign. >> d.j. bow regard ran his first political campaign at the age of 16. he managed the campaign for romney. >> he has that intuition. it comes from within. >> step-by-step.

i eventually establish a career. >> here's your mayor, here's your governor, here's your president. i wouldn't bet against him. >> i have nothing to do with him in politics. watching 9/11 is when he got the bug. >> something good always comes out of something bad. i remember you said that to me. horrible that it happened but good things can come out of it, you know? it sparked an interest in me about getting involved with government and campaign. in the end, the people you work for, the people you elect, they're the people with the future in their hands, you know? they're our leaders. >> what are rules with the restrictions going to the homes. how much video do you have on

each fellow? >> i'll take it separately. i guess the restrictions are quite straightforward. anything that we film, we can use in the film. but if anyone was uncomfortable at any time, they can tell us to go away. tell us to stop filming. and i would always listen to those requests. i mean, that's how i always work. i mean, it's really difficult if you give characters and participants in your films control later. and they have control while it's happening. >> and how much time did you spend around each one. >> people think we spent three years with them. five to 15 shoots. shoots could be a couple of hours to a few days but we didn't film as much as you might think, hopefully, seeing the film. and in all, probably have 200 and 300 hours. 200 and 300 hours. i don't really film a lot by

standards of documentary makers today, i suppose. but it's still a world of footage to whittle down to 70 to 90 minutes. >> we saw with nick and we saw with d.j., a reference in their home or on their desk talking about being the president of the united states some day. what does it come from? >> comes from growing up in this time when everybody is told, you know, you can be anything you want to be. if you become a leader at your high school, that will be the path long into the future. we can see it from the course of the rest of the film that they became a little disillusioned with that ambition, to some extent. some do at least. and they have a more broad definition of what being a leader means.

three of them will become president in 2040, three of them would become president, that's impossible. >> how much did the three of them get involved in student politics? >> they were all class presidents when i filmed them. i wanted certain scenes. i wanted to film them all at their high school graduations speaking to the classes and to real politicians. the play -- he's playing to the adults not only adults but adult politicians who are in charge of everything who are leading the way for all of their peers to follow. >> how many parents had the same politics as their kids had? >> the parents weren't political. i wanted the kids who were self-motivated. all three are not coming from inherently political families. i don't think their politics really matter in a way. i think that makes us identify a little more with kids rather than thinking how we normally think that, oh, they're

following their parents' beliefs. >> ben is from fairfax county in springfield. here is a little bit and his mother. >> we can never be certain about the future. the hope of past generations cannot prevent future tragedy when faced with adversity, you will succeed. we are -- we shall prevail. >> what about open handed close fit. this is for making a point. this is for basically like bring it on, i'm cool with everything. and frustration and i just want to be something right now. >> hey, lauren. my entire life i felt like i had something to prove. in the fourth grade, i ran to be vice president. i lost by four votes.

and i was crushed. >> we're going to fight for this. i guarantee you, we're going win. because i don't like to lose. >> things won't come the first time around. but i'm a fighter. >> i'm very lucky. i live in a fairly wealthy area. in northern virginia in fairfax county. we live right next to our nation's capitol. it's a very competitive atmosphere. i guess that's why i can't settle for anything less than what is absolutely -- >> need to paint napoleon on one wall and alexander the great on another wall. >> even though they might believe them to be sketchy characters. they're great leaders. that's what i want to bo. i want to be a person that contributes a lot back to my country and my government. if i want to go study in the

middle east -- >> i would want to -- >> clean your room. >> i might not ever go anywhere again. he reacted to that. he tried to prove something to his dad going to politics and becoming a leader. >> you grab a screen shot of that plaque that says nothing worthwhile comes easy. >> right. i mean, this is something that we see a lot of the time in high schools today. science and plaques like this, you know, we're number one. all about achievement. things like this. and i find out a little bit

ironic in a way. but it relates exactly to what ben is saying. >> talking not only their own personal slogans but slogans for the high schools. banners on the wall. i've seen them myself. where does it come from in this society? and do you have any idea whether it's done in other countries? >> it's done less in other countries. i mentioned it was a school because it's a still shot inside the high school. we're putting things of his life together in that part of the film. where did it come from. i think americans are instilled with this amazing self-esteem. this past generation has been. my generation was to a lesser extent. but in reality, it's gone

astray. >> it instilled me with values that i could achieve certain things. i don't think if i thought highly of myself i could go out and make a film that people don't necessarily believe in and work on for seven years and finish it. but there's a certain entitlement a lot of the time among too many americans, too many americans to be successful feel that they're entitled to be successful. so it creates a lot of depression. a lot of mental health issues. a lot of problems for society because everyone feels that to a certain extent they should have more than they possibly could have. >> how much of this did you feel comes from your psychology major? >> i think it's the question of which came first, something of a chicken and egg idea for that if you will. i used to think of psychology

and how personal relations work and that led me to psychology rather than other way around. but that study 20 years ago now really gave me some ways of thinking about human relationships. >> the next clip sh the d.j. in massachusetts. meaning the governor, did you set that up in advance? or did it just happen? >> we didn't set anything up in the film. it's just the way that these boys' lives unfold that they happen to be encountering loads of politicians in making of the film. president obama, bill clinton. they're part of the wallpapers of their lives in a way. they happen to run into them in the day-to-day activities. >> here's dchlt j. and the governor. >> next governor of massachusetts. >> massachusetts. >> thank you.

democrats. right for me. then i started to think on my own. >> how's it going, dad? >> oh, you're doing good. >> nice to see you. >> nice to see you too. >> i think maybe we want to talk about the weather or -- i don't know how much politics we want to talk? >> oh, we do get passionate. we know that we live in a great country, the greatest country on earth. we need to lead the world. we're not leading the world. in order to be a lieder, you you have to have followers. the rest of the world doesn't want to follow the united states of america. >> if you're doing something right and no one follows you, it doesn't mean you're wrong. no one has to be behind. that's the problem. look at iraq.

no one is behind us. if you want to be the president of the united states, you're never going to please people. >> nothing has been worse than iraq. >> baloney. >> saddam hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction. >> how do you know? >> they founding in. >> when the shock and awe was going on with the pompons in your hand. >> first of all, d.j. and his father -- his father is divorced from his mother? >> they are divorced, yeah. >> what did you -- what you're taping this, what was your reaction to it? >> my reaction was this is a great scene. >> but why all of a sudden has d.j. changed his politics? >> i think that a lot of it is that he's reacting to his father. he's personally invested in what is going on in his life. he's reacting to that. a lot of it at the iraq war was starting to become controversial in america. and he's experiencing one thing at school, one thing with his

friends where people are beginning to think, you know, well, maybe this wasn't the wisest thing to do for our generation. and he's throwing that generational anger back at his father. >> conservatives feel strongly. all you have to do is listen to the talk shows, that a lot of this happen unless the classroom from the teachers? what's your experience? >> that's not my experience. >> but what -- did you find what these young folks' experienced? >> i feel like politics is largely absent from schools today. i think even discussing it in a fair-minded way is largely absent. i think civics is really something that we should be focused more on in the classroom, frankly, in the public classroom, especially. and this is a film that is now lauded across the political spectrum for the nonjudgmental fair minded approach to politics. it's really a film about how

people think about politics more than it's about politics. we hope it gets to the classrooms and sparks fair minded discussions that don't exist. i think the way that laws get there is that i think people are skiddish and politically correct and afraid, really. teachers are afraid of sharing the politics in the classroom. >> what's your own experience with civics in the classroom in your own life. >> 20 years ago, 25 years ago when i was in high school, i think there was a little more openness. i think my teachers that made the most impact on me, their politics were more front and certainty, at least in private discussions, in a way that i think teachers today would really be scared of sharing with students because, you know, that could get them fired. >> why did you originally choose three conservatives? >> well, i think that basically

i wanted to understand three guys who i liked personally, but whose politics i didn't really understand. that was the project of the film. i felt that most people come to documentaries seeing characters who they agree with already and documentaries wind up preaching to the converted. i wanted to basically make people -- documentary audience, if you will, of largely progressive people. basically like people that they didn't else inially agree with politically and get them to identify the with them. and at the same time, i wanted to expand documentaries' traditional audience to attract more traditional or conservative politically conservative political people to see themselves in the film in a fair-minded way, which we don't often see in a documentary like this. >> the next clip is a bend in

virginia where the republican -- the attorney general has been running for governor most of this year. how did this particular event happen? >> there's sequence in the film for each of the boys where they take internships after high school where they get involved in politics. and ben is a republican loyalist at this point in the film, especially. tim was the local state senator running for re-election at a time when conservatives in the region were particularly threatened and this is part of the campaign that he worked on. liberals want more government, more taxes, and completely amoral cultural system. this is your children's book

this summer. if you ever forget who you should vote for, read this book. and if you ever have kids, give them nightmares some day. >> in a campaign, you learn to organize. they're a huge part of the republican party. along with big business. there are only so many ceos in the world. this is a tight race. first experienced negative campaigning. i hope that it goes well. the music ends up being dark and negative.

that's what i wanted to be associated with janet is negativity. she looks sickly. it's bound to help you subliminally. then, of course, the second half of the song, it's upbeat, leaving darkness, we're going to go to the happy place. people can make the argument that it's manipulation. but our goal is to win election. that's the point of policy. to win elections. basically everything i would like to be called and i'm paying for it. >> you beal in the top tier of people capable of handling it. >> sickly. janet looks sickly.

where i could see, she didn't look that sickly. did he believe that? >> he was told that by other people on the campaign, yes. >> what did he learn from this? and is he holding on to the views at this stage in his life and how old is he in that -- is he still 16 or does he turn 17 in that particular clip? >> in that clip, i think he was probably 18 at that point in the film. i think now ben's still a republican loyalist, if that's what you're asking, but i think he doesn't necessarily hold the same views as his mentor, tim cuccinelli. ben's been skiddish about participating in the campaign for the film during the relief this political season perhaps for that reason, that he doesn't tend to have a lot of the social issues that he would be asked about if he was supporting the film.

>> he talked about an amoral political system. morals were brought up again. what did you sense the definition of all three boys was of the word "morals"? >> definition of moral s? >> yeah, from their perspective. 50 ben has a specific meaning about this. i think, you know, do you have the marriage that's between a man and a woman? do you basically follow traditional rules? do you work hard? do you play fairly? when it comes to politics, he has a pragmatic view of that. he sees that as moral. >> when you were recording the moments, who was there on the camera? >> i'm the only one there.

i shoot myself. i do the sound on our own. it's not a large crew. we blend in to situations and that's how we get the material that we do. >> nick talking to an a.u. professor here in town. i assume that's an american university professor here in town. 1. >> the implied thesis was that how do you feel being a political outsider? it's how to transform college campuses. it's an interesting thing to research. >> insider/outsider vocabulary that you can take or leave. but there's a sense that what you're describing is becoming more confident and in that confidence becoming more consistent in your behavior relative to your belief.

you think about when you've been challenged and lost -- i don't mean lost but at times you see things in a way you don't think they're going to see them. >> the iraq war was started to be brought up. >> if clinton had just taken sadam, it wasn't clinton in office. it was the first bush. i'm defending something on party lines and i didn't even really know the issue. part of it is evolution. not only have i become -- gotten out of my shell. but i can also look back and say, you know, that's stupid. >> yeah. good. >> what happens when you do change your mind? confidence and belief mean choosing something and staying that way forever. or is it something else? >> it was easy to go to high school and spew all of my political beliefs really without

any saying much of anything. having an intellectual kfgs conversation, it makes you think about what you're saying. the echo of ideas. i said that sounds ridiculous. i was sailing the same thing. i began to form this opinion that maybe i don't really belong to one particular party or one particular ideology. >> why did mick pick american university, he's in pennsylvania? >> he wanted to be in washington. he wanted to be in government. he wanted to be near the seat of power. he wanted to go to georgetown as a boy. and actually wound up transferring there later. he enjoyed being there for the year he was there. >> how old was he in that clip? >> 18.

>> is he freshman at au? >> he is. >> two years later with his political change? >> two years after that? >> when they met him in 2013 -- >> he's starting to question his own beliefs. he's being exposed to different ideas across the political spectrum at college and his own reading leading up to college. he's meeting more intelligent people than he did overall in his time growing up. he's coming to think maybe everything he believes isn't necessarily true. >> he's meeting more intelligent people. does that mean if you don't, you think as a conservative. >> not what i'm saying at all. i'm saying that nick -- i'm repeating what nick would say in a sense that the average person

he met was more intelligent, thought more about politics. part of that wassing with p being in washington. in high school, he never felt challenged in terms of his political views. perhaps part of that is because he grew up in a small part of town, perhaps primarily conservative. but also because a lot of people didn't necessarily think as much about politics which is really his primary topic of talking about it as he did when he got to college. >> how long is the documentary? >> 74 minutes. >> and can people get it now some way if they want it? >> they can go to itunes, amazon, google play, or x box or play station. or direct to our website, followthelead followtheleaderfilm.com. they can buy the dvd. >> what does it cost them? >> i was ohhen a low price point with our paradigm.

so i think it's $3.99 to rent, $9.99 to own. dvds are about $20. what makes it a success is prooh voeking thoughtful relationships and conversations that we want to. that was the motivation for the film to change the political discourse in our country. in a way making a small contribution to that change. being on shows like this has helped to do that more than the film itself. >> here's d.j. talking about what he wants to do in his life. >> becoming president or running for president was always, you know, my main ambition in high school and it's something i always wanted to do. when you're a president. when you're a politician, he never got to see your family.

the weight of the world is on your shoulders. hopefully you'll never see me in the white house. you have to be sonic the head to want to be president. next month transferring to a kind of college only 125 people go there. and i'm just so insanely excited about it. because that's happening next month. so people in the barack obama campaign -- >> how big of a change was this for him? you have to be sick to be president? >> i think that's a bit of a change for d.j. and his attitudes towards becoming a political leader. but in terms of the distance he travelled from the beginning of the film, he's talking about how

laws in america come from god. that's in the first couple of minutes from the film. so going into the life that was led in the church is not that big of a change for him. it surprised people seeing the film that he sort of throws away his political am petitions do that and go into the ministry at the end of the film. >> did you ask him why? >> his priorities changeled. >> where is he today? >> he's working at starbucks, he's married. he's attending law school part time. >> where. >> at the massachusetts school of law in and over. >> what's he want to do? >> he wants to be a minister. i think really the distance between being a religious leader and being a political leader in our -- in our culture is really not necessarily that far. we're still leading people still talking about values and morals.

still out there helping people and serving the public. here is ben. it's less than a minute. >> september, 2001. it was my education. this -- just because of what's happened tonight, but now i have something that i can do to make a difference and that's to bring back their public -- to the united states citizen and to me the challenge that that poses is exciting. i'll be back. i can't even think back -- i'll be there. >> i'll be back from where?

>> he'll be back from defeat. this is a clip that was filmed on the eve -- well, the night of the 2008 election. he'd been fighting on behalf of john mccain on campus and really felt overwhelmed by the support for barack obama. >> his campus is? >> carnegie-mellon university. >> ironically, a conservative campus. but to ben, i think he felt really attacked. >> what is he studying? >> government, politics. 50 what does he think of the republican party today and where is he today? >> you have to ask him. he's completing a phd. at michigan at the university of michigan. >> are you in touch with all of these guy s? >> in touch with all of them. some more than others. you make documentaries that some people become friends and some people become in touch with periodically and what's happening at the film. i think in terms of the three boys, i talk to ben the least of

the three. a lot of that is because he's very busy. >> do you have any intentions of doing the seven-year bit? coming back and doing them again? >> i would love to. i think that's down the public's interest and a broadcaster, perhaps, or another funder's interest in doing something like that. i don't think we would do that in the same way. that we do the seven up series as much as i love them and i don't think we film the three boys in the same moment in their lives again. this was a unique moment for the crystallization of political beliefs. this 16 to 19 high school into college shift. >> you refer to the 7-up series? >> my film gets compared to it a lot. it follows seven boys and girls who were 7 at the time of the initial film. they fall loeded them and now

they're 56. >> a couple of the others. have you watched them all? >> i have seen them all. >> what was your rep action to them? where are they located? what's the purpose of it? who paid for it and all of that. a british public television film that was made in the '60s and followed up every seven years since. the purpose is to find out, you know, what happens to a cross section of people in britain at that time. it's an amazing film that charts what happens in art culture or british kill chur if you will. but it has an impact on the rest of the world too. >> here's the last clip on this documentary. this is nick attending the inauguration day in 2008. >> i don't think young people play the game of liberal versus

conservative, left versus right. are you a democrat or a republican. there's specific values to our generation. a critical time in american history. our generation is going to save this country. take you in one direction or the other. >> this way. >> biggest conflict right now is between generations. very optimistic that we'll be more effective at it. maybe one day me and people like us will be a part of the government. stay and watch and behave yourself. all right? >> love it.

>> what was the comment, maybe there will be room for a white man. >> he feels responding. his friend chris working with the judge basically he was responding to this woman in front of him. >> what did she say? >> she said, you know, will there be room for people -- they were basically talking about whether there would be room for people like them to take over in future because seeing people up on the stage talking political leaders, they were thinking some day, maybe that will be us. >> this point is of what political persuasion? >> independent. he says he's radically centrist. >> didee for obama? >> he voted for obama. >> what was t reason? >> he felt that obama embodied the hopes of a general rachlgts

as he did and does. high hopes are dashed perhaps. the hope itself still remains for a lot of us. >> where did nick go to college? >> went to american and georgetown. he graduated georgetown. >> georgetown law or george snoun. >> just georgetown. >> >> he's working for a lead reduction campaign. called "the can kicks back." on a generational equity tour travelling the country. nick is one of the three of them who is really taking it on himself to be involved in the civic engagement work as his livelihood, really. >> going back over the three of them, d.j. bow regard -- >> he's a conservative. he likes to think of himself as independent. >> nick? >> independent, but also still relatively conservative.

>> ben? >> ben is more a republican. >> have you travelled around and spoken to a lot of groups? what do folks say after they see this? what are some of the first things they say about them? >> it's people's own ideology. people impose their own on the to the film. we have a positive response. people have a different view. people are more traditional or conservative tend to see themselves in the film but also reconsider their political belief unless a way. that's something that's modelled in the characters in the film. so they're more open to considering different points of view in the course of the film. progressives come to the film thinking they're going to understand the mind of the enemy, if you will. because they hear the boys are

conservative. they understand where they come from, really, in terms of the political beliefs which i don't think is something that we as americans really do. we just sort of think that people who disagree with us are completely crazy. if we understand eefrns political beliefs come from somewhere, we can start a conversation. >> when we started, you talked about starting from stan forth and getting a masters in social psychology and a full bright. explain what it was and how did you get it? >> fortunate to get a fullbright. it's a project-based scholarship to the uk in my case. full brooigt was a senator in the reconstruction after world war ii set this program where a variety -- i don't know how many countries around the world have a partnership with the u.s. where it's a cultural exchange.

so i was essentially a cultural ambassador on a very low level, if you will, to the uk and i got to develop a project there which was my first feature documentary. >> we've got an excerpt to that. only a minute. we can't develop the whole story. but we're going to see -- it's called sunny interval and showers. what's the point? why that title? >> it's basically a british weather forecast. sunny and showers is something that you hear a lot of the time. and it's a film that's about a family coping with the father's manic depression or bipolar disorder that was the term that was coined really around that time. but really had it taken over in the uk in terms of usage. but, you know, really in the film, we're following a marriage and a family in the year after the father's diagnosed with bipolar. >> the man's name is dr. alan levy? what year did you do this?

>> this was initially in 203, it's coming oun the tenth anniversary. lit be available digitally for the first time in the united states. a variety of individual platforms and new sites called sandor as well. all of my work, i hope. we're in conversations about it now. we're going to have a screening of the documentary as well on the film. really excited about that in november. >> ten years later, where is the -- before i show the clip, where is alan levy today and how is he doing? >> he's doing fine. i saw alan and recorded a new commentary for dvds we're making for a new he revised tenth anniversary director's cut of the film released on dvd. he's doing fine. i think people have to see the film to see where he is at the end of the film. but i don't think he's in a radically different place than

that. he's healthy, working, doing fine. >> but he's a diagnosed manic depressant? >> he's diagnosed shortly before we started filming, shortly. i think to this day, like a lot of the people with that diagnosis, he takes issue with the diagnosis. the film is about the consequences of the stigma associated with mental health diagnoses as much as the consequences of illness. >> run a minute of this clip. he's talking about his diagnosis. >> well, the thing is, you uh have to know what people's response to this whole thing is going to be. they could be frightened, concerned. they might not have experience with this sort of thing at all. it's getting to know how you are before you talk about it. you can just sort of --

>> if we look at it in the cold light of day, a successful accommodated, well known university heart researcher with a a nice house, three children, a nice family life, is there really something so different, so strange about it? that it's got me into this state. >> what we aren't going to get away, what you learn in the film because there are several surprises in it. how long is this one? >> this one is -- we have three versions of it. the original was '93. the bbc version is i think most people see on dvd, that's about 70. >> this will be available in november for people to buy? >> it's available now if you go to followtheleaderfilm.com or

changeworx.com. that's the website. you can order it there. >> what's the next documentary? >> i'm producing a few right now. one in pakistan is the story of the red mosque, a notorious medrasa network. we're following the leader of the network. and two 12-year-old students whose lives are, you know, radically impacted by it. we're making another film in chile, that's about the environmental work of douglas tompkins. and we have a third film about a cameroonian drag queen who is also a winner of ru paul's first drag race show. but the director who's working on that really following up a story for about seven years, these are all films i've involved with as producer. my main focus for a while is

distributing this film. we have an interactive version of follow the leader called reality check. follow the leader that we're going to release next spring. it's really going have an impact on provoking the thoughtful and reflective conversations surrounding the 2014 midterm election. that's been our hope all along. it's influenced the discussion around politics that impact the sorts of leaders that we elect in our country. >> out of time. we have a lot more we could talk about. jonathan goodman levitt. thank you for joining us. again, the name of the documentary is "follow the leader," thanks for joining us. >> thanks so much for having me. >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q&a.org. q & a programs are available on

c-span pod cast. >> on the next washington journal, a look ahead on the upcoming week on capitol hill including the conferees meeting, the farm bill, and testimony by h.h.s. secretary sebelius. c.q. roll call and the huffington post, jennifer bendry followed by the governor's efforts to fix the health care law's website with mary agnes carrie. then the earned income tax credit. how it works and who's eligible for refunds. our guest is tax foundation chief economist william mcbride. washington journal, live every morning 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.

questions to the prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. m sure the whole house wished to join me in paying tribute to lance corporal james brinen who died in afghanistan. it is clear from the tributes that he was a highly talented and proferblal soldier. our thoughts are with his frie he was a highly talented and professional soldier. our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his colleagues at this very difficult time. he has made the ultimate sacrifice and we must never forget him. on a happier note, i'm sure the inse would join me celebrating the christening of maybe prince georges morning. in addition to my duties at the house i will have further meetings later today. >> mr. julian frar.