Just a short time before George W. announced his intentions to run for King of Amurca, the New Haven-born hopeful bought a ranch in tiny Crawford, Texas. From this suitably folksy pulpit, he engineered that down-home, aw-shucks presidential campaign persona that captivated/divided the nation, and then there were those hanging chads and...well, you know the rest.

Who Is Crawford Texas follows, through the eyes of the Crawford citizenry themselves, the crazy arc that accompanied two subsequent presidential terms of Bush-dwelling in their bitty town: the press corps filming the same appropriately rural hay bale over and over again, the proliferation of Bush souvenir shops, flocks of tourists, and, later, the arrival of Cindy Sheehan and 20,000 riled-up protesters. It's an examination of what happens when a town of 705 is forced to accommodate a Halliburton-sized PR machine, and the irrevocable growing pains that linger in town long after the fuss has died down.

Who Is Crawford Texas is part of the Austin Film Society's Docs in Progress series, which previews rough cuts of documentaries before they're officially released, usually with the filmmakers on hand so you can pick their brains in a hot Q & A sesh. Tickets are free, but limited to filmmaker-level AFS members. (If you don't have an AFS membership but you heart film-going: Twenty to forty bucks' worth of a yearlong AFS membership will very quickly pay for itself in perks, discounts and free stuff.)

Who Is Crawford Texas
Thursday, September 6th, 7-10 pm
Austin Studios Screening Room
Free; attendance limited to AFS Filmmaker-level members and above
[More Info]
[Who is Crawford Website]