"Fahrenheit 9/11" Out On Home Video/DVD Today! Pass it Around...

Mike's Letter

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October 5th, 2004 12:00 AM

"Fahrenheit 9/11" Out On Home Video/DVD Today! Pass it Around...

10/5/04

Dear Friends,

Today's the day! You can now own your own copy of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Or, you can rent it. It is now available in thousands of stores across the country for you to take into your possession and use as your own personal weapon of George Bush's mass defeat. You can also just have a nice movie night at home with the kids.

Nothing would make me happier than to have you share it with everyone you know. All surveys have shown that, the more people who see it -- especially those still sitting on the fence -- the more likely we will have regime change come November 2nd. As the critic from the New York Times wrote, "Mr. Bush is under no obligation to answer Mr. Moore's charges, but he will have to answer to Mrs. Lipscomb." In other words, it is impossible for any good American with a heart and a conscience to survive a viewing of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and not be profoundly moved by the grief of the mother from Flint who lost her son, Michael, in Iraq. What do we say to her when she asks us what exactly was it that her son died for? Mr. Bush can't tell her the real reason because the truth is so appalling that, if we were to stop and consider the true level of his deceit, it might cause more than just his defeat in November. They used to hold trials for crimes like his and Cheney's and Rumsfeld's and Wolfowitz's.

A few months ago I asked our film's distributor if they would shorten the time "Fahrenheit" would spend in the theaters and make it available on home video to everyone before the election -- and they agreed.

They also agreed to let me include an additional 90 new minutes worth of material on the DVD. These extras include never-before-seen footage outside Abu Ghraib prison, plus footage which we shot in Iraq just weeks before the invasion that clearly showed what we were in for ("Please tell America that Iraq will be their cemetery"), more words of truth from our soldiers in Iraq, and footage of Bush and Condoleezza Rice that is so frightening you will understand why the networks never showed it to you.

May I suggest that you take this DVD and run with it? Use it as a way to energize people of like-mind or convince recovering Republicans that this may be the most important election of our lifetime. Here is what you can do:

1. Hold Your Own Neighborhood Premiere of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Do it this week. Get the DVD, break out the biggest TV screen you have, pop the corn and invite over your friends, family, classmates, coworkers and neighbors for a couple of hours of laughter and tears. When it's over, take a few minutes to decide what everyone is going to do between now and November 2nd.

2. Become Your Own Fahrenheit Video Store. Buy a copy of the film and then just start lending it for free to everyone you know for a night at a time. Become known as "The Fahrenheit Connection" to those with whom you work or go to school.

3. Sponsor Large Community or School Screenings. You have my permission. Don't charge money (unless everyone has to chip in for the union hall or church basement). Invite everyone; pack the place. Have something for people to do afterwards, like volunteering for a "get out the vote" drive between now and November 2nd.

4. Give It Away. The politics and economics of the video business mean that those in poorer communities often have to resort to bootlegging. While I'm happy for people to see my movie by any means necessary, I would love for them to see it the way I made it and under the best possible conditions. If you have the wherewithal, donate copies of the DVD and VHS to your local library or to your school library. Get multiple copies and pass them out, especially to groups and people who can't afford to buy it. In a free society, which only survives if it has an enlightened electorate, information should be shared, not privately owned.

There you go. Let's flood the country with this movie. It's the Republicans' worst nightmare, should this happen. You know what to do; I don't need to say any more.

Thanks for your help in this. I think we can make a huge difference.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
www.michaelmoore.com/takeaction/vote/register.php

P.S. I’m also releasing a book today as a companion to the DVD. It’s a softcover called "The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader" and it not only includes the film's screenplay, it is chock full of articles and essays that expand on the issues raised by the film. It also contains all of our sources and factual backup so that when that conservative brother-in-law starts giving you grief over the film, you can whip out your F911 Reader and show him the irrefutable evidence that backs up every single fact in the movie.

P.P.S. Last night, we set a tour record with 12,000 in attendance in Gainesville, Florida -- and 2,000 more who couldn't get inside! You can see some pix here and check in on my occasional blog. Sixteen cities so far, mostly in Michigan and Florida, and only 44 stops to go! See ya tomorrow in Pennsylvania! (And tomorrow I will write you about a new hardcover book I am releasing this week, a book I also hope will help swing this election.)

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