?WELLSTONE!,? a documentary about the lives of the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, premieres Oct. 14 and will be screened in several Minnesota cities. Filmmakers are also hopeful the program will air on national public television and at prestigious film festivals.

Scrappy, populist, ambitious, impatient, tenacious, fair, and most of all hopeful -- Paul and Sheila Wellstone believed in standing up for what was right, and fighting to help people achieve the American dream. ?WELLSTONE!? follows the couple?s personal history, from high school days in Virginia to the halls of the U.S. Senate, and chronicles their many struggles for economic and social justice.

It includes a number of interviews, footage from the 1990 ?David vs. Goliath? Senate race and concludes with the stories of how people are carrying on the Wellstones? work today.

The premiere will be Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. at the Heights Theatre, 3951 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis. The filmmakers will introduce the documentary. To attend, ticketholders must have an All Access Pass to the Central Standard Film Festival, available from ticketworks.com for $35. For more on the festival, visit the festival website.

A second screening during the festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 16, at noon, also at the Heights.

Massive project
Producer Pam Colby estimates that she and directors Lu Lippold, Dan Luke and Laurie Stern filmed more than 200 hours of interviews for the documentary and plowed through hundreds of hours of archival footage, including speeches and news broadcasts, to produce the 88-minute show.

?A lot of people were interviewed who aren?t going to be in the final show,? she said. ?It was hard to pick and choose.?

The effort to create the documentary started with fundraising shortly after the deaths of Paul and Sheila Wellstone; their daughter, Marcia; and five others in a plane crash in October 2002. The two-year project has truly been a collaboration, director Luke said.

Musician Bruce Springsteen offered the free use of his song, ?Into the Fire,? for the documentary and a title designer and many others offered their services for free, he said.

The film was funded by some large foundations and many, many small donations from individuals, unions and other organizations, Colby said. Scores of people held ?Carry It Forward? house parties in their homes to raise money.

?I feel really proud that we got it done,? she said. ?It was paid for by a lot of small donors,? in the grass roots manner that Wellstone conducted his politics.

The documentary was originally called ?Carry It Forward,? but was changed to ?WELLSTONE!? because that title provides instant national recognition, Colby said. A main focus of the filmmakers was to get the documentary completed and shown before this year?s elections, she said.

?The local public television would not play it before the election,? so the filmmakers opted for a series of screenings, she said. Efforts continue, however, to have the documentary shown on national public television ? probably next year ? and to find other opportunities for it to get national exposure.

?We have applied to the Sundance Film Festival and to a festival in Amsterdam,? Colby said. ?In the meantime, we?re setting up as many screenings as we can around Minnesota.?

Screening schedule
Following are scheduled screenings. For up-to-date information, check the documentary?s website, www.carryitforward.org

Oct. 16, Bemidji
The screening will be at 7:30 p.m. in Hagg-Sauer Hall, Room 100, at Bemidji State University.

Oct. 17 ? 28, Minneapolis
Minnesota Film Arts will show ?WELLSTONE!? from Oct. 17 to 28 at the Bell Auditorium, 17th and University Ave., on the University of Minnesota?s Minneapolis campus. Screenings will be at 7:15 and 9:15 p.m. each day, with 5:15 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $6 general admission, $5 for students and seniors and $4 for Minnesota Film Arts members.

Oct. 24, St. Paul
The Minnesota Historical Society will have a free screening of the documentary on Sunday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m. at the History Center, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. Troubadour Larry Long, who wrote songs closely associated with the Wellstones, will perform at 1 and 3:30 p.m.

Oct. 25, St. Cloud
The screening will be at 7 p.m. at Atwood Memorial Center, St. Cloud State University. Free parking after 6:30 p.m. For more information, e-mail shotmann@stcloudstate.edu

Oct. 25, Northfield
The screening will be at 8 p.m. at Carleton College.

Oct. 25, Morris
Screenings will take place at 7 and 9 p.m. at Edson Auditorium at University of Minnesota-Morris.

Oct. 29 ? 30, Duluth
Screenings will be at 7 p.m. at the Norshor Theater, 211 E. Superior St.

?WELLSTONE!? is directed by Lu Lippold, Dan Luke and Laurie Stern of Hard Working Pictures, produced by Pamela Colby, with executive producer Shayna Berkowitz.

Related articles and photos
For more on the Wellstones, visit the Workday Minnesota Wellstone Legacy section.