Kevin Leffler fields question on his documentary "Shooting Michael Moore" dealing with Cuban healthcare and Sicko documentary.Kevin Leffler fields question on his documentary "Shooting Michael Moore" dealing with... more
Interview with Kevin Leffler, Filmmaker, "Shooting Michael Moore"
BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Kevin Leffler, why did you call your documentary ”Shooting Michael Moore”?
KEVIN LEFFLER, FILMMAKER, ”SHOOTING MICHAEL MOORE”: Well actually what I was trying to do was shoot him with a camera, obviously there was no violence intended, no rifle. And it’s kind of an edgy name, I think people would attract attention and the same time basically it portrays what I want to do in the documentary, which was actually follow Michael Moore with a camera and get an interview with him.
LAMB: When did you start this process?
LEFFLER: I started it in August of 2004, so about two and a half, almost three years ago.
LAMB: Why?
LEFFLER: Well basically two reasons, one is I grew up with Mike, background is I knew Mike well, went to high school with him, worked with him for about two years at a hotline, so I knew Mike well, and had some personal incidents with him, as well as some stories and things that he had done on some people. And I said you know what, I think the world perceives Michael Moore one way, the people who know Mike perceive him a different way, and I wanted to tell a story really from the other side of Michael Moore.
Showing exclusively at:
AMC Mall of the Americas 14
7795 West Flager, Miami, FL, USA - Map
10:20am 12:45 3:05 5:25 7:55 10:45pm
Posted on Friday, 10.24.08
HEALTHCARE
Michael Moore's classmate films a response to `Sicko'
A high school classmate of filmmaker Michael Moore has made his own film challenging Moore's rosy depiction of Cuban healthcare. It premieres Friday night.
By WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA
El Nuevo Herald
Michael Moore's 2007 documentary Sicko, which portrays a group of patients from the United States receiving diligent medical attention at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in Havana, has prompted an unauthorized sequel that premieres Friday in Miami-Dade.
COUNTERPOINT
Kevin L. Leffler, an accountant and university professor who grew up in Michigan and went to high school with Moore, embarked on his own cinematic adventure as a counterpoint to his former classmate. His documentary, Shooting Michael Moore, is an 80-minute analysis of the conduct and premises touted by Moore.
In Shooting Michael Moore, Leffler contrasts the scenes of the American patients being attentively cared for in the Havana clinic with images of Cuban citizens seeking care at the same facility being turned away.
The dialogue between the hospital's receptionists and dissident physician Darsi Ferrer and his journalist friend Jaime Leygonier, who request appointments for MRIs, was captured with a hidden camera, and shows a reality far removed from the scenes in Sicko.
Leffler's documentary will premiere Friday at the AMC Theater in the Mall of the Americas, 7795 W. Flagler St. The filmmaker will be there for a q-and-a session after the 5:25 and 7:55 screenings.
''Moore's behavior is malicious and hypocritical,'' said Leffler, 51.
``For those of us who have followed his footsteps during these years, his falseness about the Cuban health system and the deplorable state of medical services that Cuban nationals receive shouldn't surprise us.''
The Cuban footage was shot in November 2007. It includes scenes at Miguel Enriquez Hospital in Havana that show a dilapidated facility and the somber panorama of the reception area.
''It is very exciting to know that the images filmed by Kevin Leffler will be seen in the U.S., as he had the bravery to come to Cuba to find out the reality of this nation's healthcare system,'' said Ferrer, who runs the Juan Bruno Zayas Center for Health and Human Rights in Cuba.
CUBAN TV
Ferrer, who helps to provide alternative humanitarian assistance to Cuba's needy, said Sicko was shown on Cuban television last year, and prompted jokes among viewers.
''Mr. Moore has presented in Sicko a healthcare system in Cuba that the common Cuban today does not have access to,'' Ferrer said.
El Nuevo Herald made several requests for comment to Moore, who failed to respond.
