A number of us locals might have been surprised to see, on the Oscars nominations list, the film "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner," directed by Daniel Junge, in the short documentary category. This film was certainly under my radar, so I was glad to get a call just moments ago from its co-producer, former Seattleite Andy Schocken. He told me that the film doesn't yet have a website or a trailer, and that it will have its first public screenings this month in New York. Ultimately, it will air on HBO, though a date is not yet set -- but surely the Oscar nomination will hurry that process along. Schocken said that there will definitely be screenings scheduled in the Pacific Northwest as well. I'll let readers know when more information is available.

Booth Gardner's campaign for assisted-suicide laws (the former Washington state governor suffers from Parkinson's) has been documented in the New York Times, and is the subject of this film. Director Daniel Junge is the creative director of the Denver-based company Just Media, and recently directed the 2008 South by Southwest award winner "They Killed Sister Dorothy." Schocken said that "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" was filmed entirely in Western Washington, mostly in Olympia and at Gardner's Tacoma-area home.