Paul Stekler

For the last half century, the little town of Luling, Texas has held an annual Watermelon Thump Festival – and its own world championship watermelon seed spitting competition. This short documentary is about both the contest and the chief seed spitting judge, Phil, an underemployed, over-stimulated, former expatriate, who’s come home after years abroad in Europe.

This two-hour program examines the rich personal and political biographies of John McCain and Barack Obama and goes behind the headlines to discover how they arrived at this moment and what their very different candidacies say about America.

What were the politics that launched George W. Bush to national office? Did they become a blueprint for Washington? Award-winning filmmaker Paul Stekler asks these questions as he takes his camera to Texas for a lively behind-the-scenes look at a pair of 2002 elections (for state representative and governor). Prominent Texans such as Bush strategist Karl Rove and former governor Ann Richards also shed light on the changing political landscape.

A hilarious, unorthodox look at the colorful, Byzantine political culture of Louisiana, home to Huey and Earl Long, David Duke, and Edwin Edwards, where politics is a long-running spectator sport. Winner of the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award.

Four times governor of Alabama, four times a candidate for president, he was feared as a racist demagogue and admired as a politician who spoke his mind. A lightning rod for controversy, Wallace both reflected and provoked tensions in American society over more than four decades. This film traces the rise of the firebrand politician from his roots in rural Alabama to the assassination attempt that suddenly transformed him.