Moore opened the door for filmmaker pals

updated 12:16 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2008

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - They make movies that deal with unpleasant topics such as war and racism, yet are entertaining and even humorous. They're passionate, mischievously creative, politically liberal.

Does this sound like "Michael Moore The Next Generation"?

If so, there's a good reason. These filmmakers once worked with Moore on pictures such as "Roger & Me" and "Fahrenheit 9/11." Now they're turning out documentaries of their own.

"Michael's body of work has changed the landscape for all documentary filmmakers," director-producer Carl Deal said. "He's kicked open the doors, he's broken the rules. He's made clear that you can actually make a commercially viable documentary film."

Deal and partner Tia Lessin made "Trouble the Water," one of four films by former Moore collaborators shown at the recent Traverse City Film Festival, which Moore and others established in 2005.

Organizers dubbed the group "Mike's Peeps." Moore insisted their entries were chosen for screenings on their own merits, not favoritism.

"They made four of the best films this year," he said. "We don't bring movies to this festival that are mediocre, or aren't very good, or it was a nice try or whatever."

The other "peep" films included "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," directed by Gini Reticker; "Bigger Stronger, Faster," co-produced by Kurt Engfehr; and first-time director Jason Pollock's "The Youngest Candidate."

"I think most documentary filmmakers nowadays are Michael Moore disciples," said Pollock, 26, like Moore a college dropout who found his calling in the cinema. "I see a lot of him in my film."

The new generation is making its mark nearly two decades after Moore's 1989 debut, "Roger & Me," a dark comedy about the devastation wrought by General Motors Corp.'s downsizing in Flint, Mich. Reticker helped edit the film after Moore brought an early version to New York.

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"I thought, 'Oh my god, this is great — so fresh, so original,'" Reticker said.

Deal and Lessin saw "Roger & Me" in a theater and became Moore fans. A few years later, Lessin saw the first episode of Moore's short-lived television newsmagazine "TV Nation."

"There was no 'Daily Show' back then, no Jon Stewart," she said. "Michael did things on camera no one was doing, said things no one was saying. I was determined to get a job on that show, and by golly I did."

She became a producer on "TV Nation" and its madcap successor, "The Awful Truth," once landing in jail and earning a lifetime ban from Disneyland after filming a segment there featuring the character "Crackers, the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken."

Lessin and Deal, both 43, later worked on the Oscar-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine."

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, they headed for New Orleans and met Kimberly and Scott Roberts, survivors of flooding in the Ninth Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas.

Kimberly Roberts had purchased a video camera days earlier. She recorded gripping scenes of their peril and narrow escape, which Lessin and Deal incorporated into "Trouble the Water."

"Our work with Michael was always about exposing government and corporate accountability," Lessin said. "This film shows how the government failed miserably. But it's also a story of how people can beat the odds and survive."

It opens in theaters this month after being named best documentary at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

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