Unless you have the $9.3 trillion needed to lift the country from its financial demise, you?ll want to see “I.O.U.S.A.,” showing at the Maryland Film Festival.
Audiences gave the film a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival, but the film?s screening in Maryland means more to co-writer and producer, Addison Wiggin, the executive publisher of the Baltimore-based Agora Financial. “I?m just psyched to be able to bring the film here and have the hometown support. After Sundance, we thought ?How quickly can we get this out to people who need to see it?? ”
“I.O.U.S.A.,” based on Wiggin and Bill Bonner?s 2005 book “Empire of Debt,” focuses on the four major deficits ? federal, savings, trade and leadership ? identified by David Walker, former comptroller general of the United States and former head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The film follows Walker around the country on his fiscal wake-up tour as he explains complex ideas in easy-to-understand terms. Director Patrick Creadon laces Walkers? words with archival footage and interviews with everyday people and government officials.
Creadon likes to say he didn?t think he could find a drier, more boring subject than crossword puzzles, the focus of his wildly successful 2006 film “Wordplay,” Wiggin said. “But then he found debt. And that?s his MO, taking those seemingly dull subjects and making them an entertaining and funny cinematic experience.”
Inside the editing room in July 2007, Creadon and crew realized the financial meltdown they foretold, during filming between March and May 2007, had came true, Wiggin said. “We had to redo the entire film.”
Their persistence proved fruitful, given the buzz surrounding the film since Sundance.
“One thing that I took away from Sundance was that most people think we?re spending too much on the war,” Wiggin said. “But if you eliminate the entire budget for the Pentagon, it still wouldn?t impact the liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and interest on the debt that exists. The national debt rises if we did nothing but pay for those programs.”
What you think of “I.O.U.S.A.” will influence the documentary?s filmmakers. Wiggin plans to re-edit the film based on audiences? suggestions.
IF YOU GO
I.O.U.S.A.
When: 11:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. today and 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Charles Theatre, 1711 N. Charles Street, Baltimore
Info: www.md-filmfest.com
