Slacker Uprising

Michael Moore is one of the first filmmakers to release a major film feature entirely for free via the internet, called Slacker Uprising. Since being released on Sept. 22nd, the film has been found on a number of popular BitTorrent tracker websites, which has only sped up and expanded the distribution of the film.

Moore produced popular documentaries including Sicko and Bowling for Columbine, the former received an Academy Award nomination for best documentary in 2007 and the latter won the award in 2002. This release is supposedly the first of its kind: him and the film's production company, Brave New Films, plan on not making any money in the American market for this film.

“This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans. The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November,” filmmaker Michael Moore said I think 'Slacker Uprising' will inspire million to get off the couch and give voting a chance."

Slacker Uprising takes you through the 42-day tour that Michael Moore took across 62 cities leading up to the 2004 election of Democratic-nominee John Kerry vs Republican-nominee George Bush, where he had one definite message to every city: get out there and vote.

Moore's mission was to convince the younger voting demographic to take the initiative on election day, and cast a vote in the 2004 election. In some events along the tour, of which as many as 16,000 people attended, Moore handed out underwear and ramen-noodles to non-voters who pledged to vote in the coming election.

While those moments seem comical, Moore still pledges a serious message to those that feel like their government system has failed them. While speaking at Kent State University, he recognized them: “Acknowledge to those people, the non-voters who have a hard time voting, that you understand that they're cynical. They should be cynical, you understand why they've sunk into their own despair. Because politicians don't seem to be there for them the day after the election. Here's the difference with this election ... all of us are committed into keeping this movement going on November 3rd, and November 4th, and November 5th...”

It seems that Moore has held this pledge true, as he is still a notorious figure that speaks for the return of American soldiers from the war in Iraq, and has recently been recognized for the film Sicko, which heavily criticized the current health care policies of the US. We are all aware with how this story ends: Republican George W. Bush wins the election. However, Democratic candidate John Kerry, whose platform was more closely aligned to Moore's message, had won the young demographic in the vote by 9%. It was the only age demographic that Kerry won.

This tour was as much of an activist event as it was a concert series: musician Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) appears in the film speaking with Moore, as well as R.E.M., Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), and singer-songwriter Steve Earl. Other familiar faces you may recognize include Viggo Mortensen, and Roseanne Barr.

The film is available through it's official website: SlackerUprising.com. It's available by download from various online-media hosts, or by streaming the film through other web hosts, including Amazon's video-on-demand service. The filmmaker has taken this a step further in asking for some community effort in sharing his film:

“You have my blanket permission to share the movie with your friends, to set up screenings in your communities or theaters, to show it on your campuses – all at no charge. I encourage you to rally voters with it, to raise funds for your favorite candidates, to air it on your local cable access channels or web broadcasts,” Moore said from a statement on the movie's official website. SlackerUprising.com now hosts an online network that allows you to find viewing hosts to see the movie yourself. Hosts can utilize the website's resources to promote their local showing of the movie, with free press-release material.

An active online-pirate community, coupled with the physical distribution of the film by fans and followers of the Slacker Uprising movement, has restarted this voting message of Michael Moore's 2004 tour. Although Moore's representation and influence of the democratic process may be controversial according to his critics, it still is an effective way to encourage those who feel apathetic in these elections into voting.