UPDATE: Going Undercover with the Tea Party

By Timothy Rood

Updated Oct. 18, 4 40 a.m.: Only 10 tickets left: http://www.tugg.com/events/1907.

Last spring, sworn to secrecy, I learned that my friend Jane Wilson from high school, an actress, was going undercover for months as Janeane, a conservative Iowa housewife — living a double life as she secretly commuted to our native Iowa from her home in Los Angeles.

Remaining in character for days at a time, as her character developed mounting personal and health problems, Janeane/Jane attended Tea Party events and political rallies, got to know her fellow Tea Partiers, and got one on one face time with just about all the GOP candidates during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, asking tough questions about how their policies would help families like hers.

Michele Bachmann held her hand and cried with her in a diner for 15 minutes. Janeane was featured (in character) breaking down in front of Mitt Romney on ABC News. Our Ames High classmate Kathie Kinrade Obradovich, a political editor for the Des Moines Register, even mentioned Janeane in an article, unaware that she was really Jane.

And all this with a film crew in tow. The resulting film, Janeane from Des Moines, is coming to Oakland for one showing only, Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7pm at the Piedmont Theater in Oakland. The event will only occur if enough tickets are reserved ($10 per person) by the deadline of Oct. 18. 

Here's the link to buy tickets: http://www.tugg.com/events/1907

Screenings are being arranged around the country — the growing list is on the film's website, www.janeanemovie.com.

Jane and director Grace Lee prefer to call Janeane a work of "political fiction" rather than a "mockumentary." Ion Cinema praised its "guerrilla-styled indie-budgeted smarts," and Variety said it "admirably refuses to go the predictable route of 'punking' the candidates for easy satire or cheap laughs."

Read the New York Times front-page article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/movies/janeane-from-des-moines-mock-documentary-hits-the-right.html.

Editor's note: Timothy Rood is a Piedmont resident, a member of the city's Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee, a bike rider and — now — a friend of indie film stars. We liked the personal touches in his email about Janeane from Des Moines, so it is reprinted here in its entirety.

Don't miss a day of Piedmont news, opinion and events. Sign up for the Piedmont Patch e-newsletter here.