Confederate States of America (2004)

Описание: "C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America" - is a 2004 American mockumentary film written and directed by Kevin Willmott.

It is an account of an alternate history, wherein the Confederacy wins the American Civil War and establishes a new Confederate States of America that incorporates the majority of the Western Hemisphere, including the former contiguous United States, the "Golden Circle", the Caribbean, and South America.

Primarily detailing significant political and cultural events of Confederate history from its founding until the early 2000s, this viewpoint is used to satirize real issues and events, and to shed light on the continuing existence of racism against Black Americans.

The film premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and was released in the United States on February 15, 2006, by IFC Films.
It received positive reviews.

Overview:
"C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America" is set in an alternate history where Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation failed.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis takes the opportunity to secure British and French aid for the Confederacy, allowing Confederate forces to win the Battle of Gettysburg, besiege Washington, D.C., and take over the White House a few months later.

As a result, slavery in America survives into the present day and other historical events are affected accordingly.

The film is presented as if it were a British Broadcasting Services (BBS) (a parody of the British Broadcasting Corporation) documentary being broadcast on a CSA television channel in San Francisco, California.

It opens with a fictional disclaimer suggesting that censorship came close to preventing the broadcast, that its point of view might not coincide with that of the network, and that it might not be suitable for viewing by children and "servants".

It purports to disagree with an orthodox Confederate interpretation of American history.

The film portrays two historians: Sherman Hoyle, a conservative Southerner (a parody of Shelby Foote); and Patricia Johnson, a black Canadian, as talking heads, providing commentary.

The documentary hosts also follow Confederate politician and Democratic presidential hopeful John Ambrose Fauntroy V (the great-grandson of one of the founders of the C.S.A.) during his primary campaign as he faces challenges over alleged black ancestry.
Narration explains fake historical newsreel footage, which is either reenacted or compiled of genuine archival footage dubbed with fictional narration.

Racialist advertisements appear as commercial breaks, including consumer products, television programs, and films, all aimed at white slave-owning families.
Text during the film's epilogue note that parts of the alternate timeline are based on real history and that some of the racist products depicted such as Uncle Ben's and Aunt Jemima actually existed at the time of the film's production
(both products were rebranded in 2020 following the George Floyd protests).

Cast:
Rupert Pate as Sherman Hoyle, a Confederate American historian who speaks highly of the Confederate American values.
Evamarii Johnson as Patricia Johnson, an African-Canadian historian whose viewpoints focus on the slaves and minorities oppressed by the Confederate regime.
Larry Peterson as Senator John Ambrose Fauntroy V, a descendant of Confederate senator John Ambrose Fauntroy I and Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2002.
Charles Frank as the documentary's narrator.
Steve Jasen as the voice of Abraham Lincoln
Arlo Kasper as Old Abraham Lincoln
Kevin McKinney as Blackface Abraham Lincoln
Joyce Jefferson as the voice of Harriet Tubman
Will Averill as Blackface Harriet Tubman
Brian Paulette as Jefferson Davis
Lauralei Linzay as Varina Davis
Sean Blake as Adolf Hitler
Glenn Q. Pierce as the voice of Robert E. Lee
Marvin Voth as the voice of Walt Whitman
John Staniunas as the voice of William Lloyd Garrison
Greg Funk as the voice of Wendell Phillips
Kevin Willmott as the voice of Frederick Douglass

Production:
Kevin Wilmott began production on the film with a funding from the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and wrote its first draft in 1997.

Willmott, who had earlier written a screenplay about abolitionist John Brown, told interviewers he was inspired to write the story after seeing an episode of Ken Burns' 1990 television documentary - The Civil War.
It was produced by Hodcarrier Films.

The film was filmed in Humboldt, Newton and Lawrence cities in Kansas, with a cast and crew coming from the U.S. states of Kansas, Missouri and Iowa as well as Colombia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia