Trailer Premiere: 11-4-08 Revisits That Optimistic Night America Elected Barack Obama

The midterm elections are almost upon us, marking two years since the historic vote that lifted Barack Obama to the office of the Presidency. How it's gone since then depends on whom you ask (i.e. the Obama Administration and basically anybody else), but that's not to say we can't -- or shouldn't -- reflect on that halcyon era when Americans seemed enthused, encouraged and mobilized by the prospects of political action. Or at least the kind of political action that didn't involve the sartorial accessorization of teabags. Enter Jeff Deutchman's user-generated documentary 11-4-08, the new trailer for which debuts after the jump.

Unspooling in theaters nationwide this week and landing on demand starting Friday, 11-4-08 is the result of Deutchman soliciting footage from around the world to document the mood, the spirit, the activity and the political conversation on Election Day 2008. Among the participants are Henry Joost (Catfish), Margaret Brown (The Order of Myths), Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs) and more than a dozen other contributors, and according to the producers, they're not done there:

The premiere of this documentary at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival coincided with the launch of a website that marked the beginning of Phase Two: an effort to accumulate an extensive library of footage shot on Election Day 2008 that can be a resource for filmmakers, historians, and the public at large. By allowing users at home to browse, upload, download, edit, remix, mash-up, and re-upload the footage, 11-4-08.com will democratize the way that history can be written.

There you have it. Engage at will, and never forget that President Obama's long road to appearing on Mythbusters all started here.