18 in 08

Our good friends over at 18 in 08 are bringing on the hawt PSA action

I just finished watching 18 in '08, a documentary about young people and the political process created by David Burstein, himself only 19 years old, and 18 at the time of filming. Long and short - it's great. The documentary captures the many doubts that many people - old and young - have about the process, but is careful to note that things are rapidly changing. Just when I thought Burstein would violate one of the 11 Rules of covering the youth vote, he'd offer counterexamples that note rising participation and action by Millennials.

With a decent soundtrack and a run time of about 30 minutes, it's the perfect primer for why young people should participate and how they have been in recent years.

I spoke with Burstein a few weeks ago about his plans for promoting and using the movie as a GOTV and motivational tool in 2008. Burstein and his coproducers are working with a variety of partners to screen the film across the country: College Democrats, Young Democrats, College Republicans, Mobilize.org, Declare Yourself, Unity 08, Why Tuesday, Vote Smart, Generation Engage - basically all the major non-partisan players as well as the youth arms of both the parties.

Beginning in January, the producers will work to get at least 500 DVDs into the hands of teachers, CDA or CRA leaders, and others who will screen the film, register viewers to vote, and ask others to became evangelists, hosting their own screenings. This work will also include a 50-campus tour, and complementary outreach strategy online via YouTube, MySpace, and FaceBook. If you want to host a screening, you can order a copy of the DVD via their website, and they are getting ready to launch a DIY toolkit for would-be promoters.

Creating fun, effective tools for basic civic education in schools is a great goal - and surely necessary at a time when most high schools and college have foregone civics education altogether. However, most interesting to me is their plan to open-source their material and make 100+ hours of interview footage - with elected officials, celebrities, and regular youth - available online for anyone to remix into their own PSAs. Judging by the video, there's some good footage available. I can't wait to see what the remix culture - or even partner organizations - can make of that.