Houston premiere of "The Big Buy" next Friday

The Big Buy, now subtitled "Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress", is having its Houston premiere on Friday, May 19, at the Angelika Theater downtown. Here's the press release that I got:

An explosive new documentary about Rep. Tom DeLay's scheme to steal Congress from the American people will make its World Premiere next week in Houston. THE BIG BUY: TOM DELAY'S STOLEN CONGRESS - by Texas directors Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck - helped push DeLay from office and is now setting its sites on the corruption he fostered in the halls of Congress.

It will premiere next Friday, May 19, 2006, at the Angelika Film Center (500 Texas Street, Houston) at a screening that will benefit non-profit groups Texans for Public Justice and DriveDemocracy.org. A press conference with the film's directors, local politicians and activists will take place at 5:00 pm, to be followed by a reception at 6:00 pm and the screening at 7:00 pm.

The World Premiere marks the start of a massive grassroots outreach program to screen the film for hundreds of thousands of voters across the nation, including grassroots premieres in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC, and thousands of house parties in competitive House Districts around the country. The film will also screen theatrically in cities across the country (Dallas and Houston theatrical details are below).

The Big Buy details Tom DeLay's master plan to create a permanent Republican majority in the U.S. Congress in part by using illegal corporate contributions to reshape Texas' political landscape. At the pinnacle of his power, the then Majority Leader used these illegal contributions to take over the Texas State Legislature, redraw the state’s congressional lines mid-decade, and send a half-dozen new hard-right Republican Congressmen to Washington.

The film goes further to describe DeLay's web of co-conspirators in Congress - Members of the House of Representatives who are systematically letting corporations take control of America's Democracy - and to talk about the loopholes in our system that allow this lawlessness to happen.

Framing the story as political Film Noir, The Big Buy chronicles the rise of Tom DeLay from backbencher in the Texas Legislature to the architect of the largest money machine ever constructed on Capitol Hill, and also chronicles Texas DA Ronnie Earle as he investigates that machine. It's this local DA who wins 41 indictments against the operatives, groups, corporations and congressman who Grand Juries say broke the law in order to funnel illegal corporate money to Texas Republicans. The film lays open the confluence of events that led multinational corporations to pour donations into an obscure DeLay PAC dedicated to changing the political landscape of the nation by changing the congressional lines of a state.

Premiere proceeds will benefit two Texas non-profits - Texans for Public Justice and Drive Democracy. Texans for Public Justice is the group who filed the original criminal complaint against Rep. DeLay's PAC for illegally using corporate money to influence Texas' 2002 elections. Drive Democracy is a non-profit that helps ordinary people make their voices heard in the political arena.

Here's the film schedule. You folks up in Dallas, take note, for it's playing there as well:

Show times for the Angelika Dallas (Mockingbird Station, 5321 E Mockingbird Lane):

Fri 5/19 - Sun 5/21: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm, 5:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:00pm
Mon 5/22 - Thurs 5/25: 1:00pm, 3:00pm, 5:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:00pm

Show times for the Angelika Houston (510 Texas Avenue):
Fri 5/19 - Sun 5/21: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm, 5:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:00pm
Mon 5/22 - Thurs 5/25: 5:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:00pm

I've written about this before here, and reviewed the film here. It's apparent that the tone of the film is different now, more pointed in its perspective. I'll be very interested to see how it compares to the screener DVD I watched last year.

Tiffany and I will be at that 7 PM Friday show, so if you're there, look for us. If you want to attend and help out with the fundraiser, go here.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 11, 2006 to Scandalized! | TrackBack