RUTHFULLY YOURS

If you’re not familiar with the name Phelim McAleer, then you’re unaware of one the most fearless independent filmmakers working today. The producer and director of films such as Mine Your Own Business: The Dark Side of Environmentalism (2006), Not Evil Just Wrong: The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria (2009), and FrackNation (2013), all of which proved to be very inconvenient truths to the left, McAleer also crowdfunded his way to producing a film about abortion monster Gosnell: America’s Biggest Serial Killer, directed by actor and conservative gadfly Nick Searcy and written by novelist/political humorist Andrew Klavan.

Somewhere amid all that, McAleer also produced a play called Ferguson about the controversial killing of Black Lives Matter martyr Michael Brown by white officer Darren Wilson, reenacted onstage using only unaltered Grand Jury testimony. McAleer is not afraid to use film and theater works to force the left to face the truth about such issues.

For his latest project, McAleer has turned to the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s illegal private email server. Her staff are currently giving depositions about it under oath and on film, but Hillary’s lawyers have persuaded the judge to block the release of the tapes because they could damage her chances in the election.

McAleer finds this unconscionable and “unacceptable – that films showing the truth are being blocked from the American people. George Orwell described journalism as ‘something somebody somewhere doesn’t want published.’ So we are going to commit a series of acts of journalism.” What that means is, McAleer is creating a series of short film re-enactments of highlights from the depositions, scripted from the transcripts themselves.

Here, for example, is a video of Cheryl Mills’ deposition highlights, in her own words from the transcript. Mills worked for the Clintons for almost 30 years. She was Hillary’s Chief of Staff at the State Department. Her testimony is “amazing,” writes McAleer, “full of classic Clintonian evasions. She used the phrase ‘I don’t remember’ or ‘don’t recall’ 189 times. This deserves to be brought to a wider audience, not censored and hidden away. And we now have it on film.”

There will be a total of five short films, ending with the deposition of Hillary aide Huma Abedin, who was talkative and very casual about emailing government business with Hillary when both of them were using the server in Hillary’s basement:

McAleer intends to call them The Films that Hillary and Her Cronies Don’t Want You to See. But he needs your support to finish the videos. To contribute, go to the project’s Indiegogo crowdfunding page here.

McAleer recently granted me some time to ask a few questions about the films.

Mark Tapson:         First, tell us about the Clinton depositions on film project. What are you trying to accomplish with it?

Phelim McAleer:    Basically I just want people to know the truth. That is it, really. I’m a journalist at heart, not an activist, so I’m not trying to change the world or promote a cause – except the cause of telling the truth and bringing to light something that the establishment wants hidden.

MT:     You seem to have found a lot of freedom and success through crowdfunding your last few projects. As a filmmaker who shines a harsh light on the dark side of Progressivism, what kind of resistance do you and projects like yours meet from the traditional film industry?

PM:   Well, we cover a lot of stories that Hollywood might shy away from. Crowdfunding allows us to fill the gap and get the truth out to those who need to see it. Having said that, we have a ton of great Hollywood actors such as Dean Cain, Michael Beach, Sarah Jane Morris, and Nick Searcy come on to our projects. They seem to be on the TV every time I turn it on these days.

Also, a lot of the crew we work with have worked at the highest levels in Hollywood. If you have a great story and a great script then you will attract great people. Obviously you are going to have the intolerant types who won’t see past their tribe and we have encountered a lot of those – we have had a lot in the Deposition project – with people walking out after they studied the script or talked to “friends.” But we have always replaced them with wonderful actors who have given great performances

MT:     How are the actors themselves reacting to this material? In your play based on the Ferguson trial transcript, you had some actors who were uncomfortable enough with the truth that they left the project. Are you seeing that with the actors on the Clinton deposition films?

PM:    Yes, a number have walked out before filming – good riddance to them. These actors love to give themselves awards, telling themselves how brave they are, and then the first time they are asked to do anything actually brave they run away. They are cowards posing as Bravehearts.

MT:     What’s your reaction to the FBI Director Comey’s statement announcing that Hillary would be facing no charges for her criminal negligence? And how do you think that announcement might affect your project?

PM:   I was surprised by the announcement. I’ve read more about these emails than most people, and the evidence that was emerging in the transcripts was amazing and damning. It looked, in my opinion, as if there was significant wrongdoing. This decision means that tapes should now be released – what is the excuse for keeping these depositions from the public? We are going to continue with the filming. We are looking forward to Hillary being deposed under oath – that will be quite a casting call and quite a film!

MT:     What’s the word on your Gosnell film? How is it progressing?

PM:    The Gosnell Movie is 99 per cent finished. We are currently talking to a number of distributors who are very interested in the project. They are very interested in the fact that it was funded by 29,000 people who are an army ready to drive a massive audience to the film. Those contributors have paid to make it happen and are waiting for it to be produced.

MT:     What’s next for you?

PM:   I have all sorts of dangerous ideas percolating in my brain – nothing settled as yet.

Mark Tapson is the editor of TruthRevolt.org and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.