Canada : Mr. President le 29 septembre sur CBC

Mr. President Monday September 29 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld. Repeats on Sat. October 4 at 10 pm ET/PT.

As we try to understand what it means to be president of the United States, one of the increasingly powerful influences is fiction, in particular the hundreds of hours of TV and movies that have made "stars" of the men and women who work in the Oval Office.

In 2008, the election of the President of the United States will have effects beyond America's frontiers and will influence future world events in far-away countries. What problems will this new President face? How will he react? And what will he (or she) look like?

As we try to understand what it means to be president, one of the places we turn to for examples is fiction. Hollywood has fictionalized the lives of numerous real presidents and created dozens of imaginary ones (over 60 films in the last 15 years alone). Recently, Mr. (or Madam) President has become an international star thanks to TV series (West Wing, 24, Commander-in-Chief). Combining clips from films and TV series, archives, interviews (historians, journalists, actors, directors, screenwriters, speechwriters and political analysts), and footage from key Presidential locations, this documentary explores the resources and recipes behind this "presidential factory" and examines various interconnections between political life and "presidential fiction."

Mr. President was produced by Serge Lalou and Mark Edwards in coproduction with Les Films d'Ici - ARTE France.