Long synopsis : October 19, 2007. President George W. Bush is in Chicago to address local business leaders. Angry crowds greet him: a massive anti-war demonstration. The mood is volatile, ugly. Security forces struggle to contain outbreaks of violence; undercover officers take preemptive action against potential threats to the President's safety. His speech made, the President insists on meeting and greeting his supporters in the lobby of downtown Chicago's Sheraton Hotel. It is 7.11 pm. Sudden gunfire. The President is hit. Pandemonium ERUPTS. President George W Bush is rushed to hospital where he dies, 5 hours later. INSPIRED BY THE real-life experiences of those caught up in the 'War on Terror', DEATH OF A PRESIDENT is the definitive account of the aftermath of the assassination, and of the reality of post 9/11 America; and of how the wrong man - Syrian born Jamal Abu Zikri - was eventually convicted of the fatal shooting. Told in the style of a US theatrical documentary, the film is in fact a fictional drama. Building on the techniques used by writer/director Range and his writer/producer partner, Simon Finch, in their BAFTA-nominated, universally acclaimed The Day Britain Stopped, the film utilizes real and reconstructed archive and testimony, blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction at every turn. Documentary conventions are ruthlessly exploited: the film includes meticulous pastiches of news reports, press conferences, home video and press and magazine coverage. As a documentary, DEATH OF A PRESIDENT combines a compelling narrative with authoritative reportage, intended to offer viewers the means to evaluate the alternative assassination theories. As a drama, it is a high tension, high-wire act, shining a pitiless light on the most frightening aspects of today's fundamentalism - religious, neo-conservative or liberal. D.O.A.P. has picked up the prestigious International Critics? Award at Toronto, with the chairman of the judges calling it: ''An extraordinary cinematic experience''.

Cast

• Hend Ayoub, Becky Ann Baker, Brian Boland, Michael Reilly Burke, Patricia Buckley, Seena Jon

Crew

• Producer(s): Simon Finch, Ed Guiney, Robin Gutch, Gabriel Range
• Director(s): Gabriel Range
• Screenplay: Gabriel Range, Simon Finch
• DP: Graham Smith
• Editing: Brand Thumim
• Original Music: Richard Harvey
• Set Design: Gary Baugh

• Genre(s): Crime, Drama


• Production company: CHICAGO BOROUGH FILMS LTD.
• Production date: 2006
• Language: English
• Duration: 97 min
• Image Ratio: 1.77
• Sound Info: Dolby Digital

• Toronto International Film Festival 2006
  Award(s) : International Critics' Award (FIPRESCI)
• BAFTA Awards 2007 - Nominated
  Award(s) : Best Visual Effects
• Göteborg Film Festival 2007
  
• Istanbul Film Festival 2007
  
• Vilnius International Film Festival 2007
  
• Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival 2007
  
• Munich International Film Festival 2007
  
• Sarajevo Film Festival 2007
  
• Festival do Rio 2007
  
• Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2008