Filmmaker shares behind-the-scenes look at birth of constitution

SANFORD, N.C. — Filmmaker David Garrigus visited CCCC on Oct. 23 to present three screenings of his new documentary “The American Constitution” ahead of its national premier on PBS next year. 

The screenings, a joint project of CCCC’s Academic and Cultural Enrichment Series (ACES) and CCCC’s Arts Career Community, were attended by CCCC students and employees, community members, and elected officials. 

CCCC’s History & Social Sciences Lead Instructor and ACES Coordinator Bianka Stumpf said the film screenings represented, “an opportunity to bring together our community, and create connection and dialog, and hopefully a sense of curiosity about the past, the present, and the future where we are headed.” 

She recognized Lee County Commissioners Chairman Kirk Smith for his tireless vision in championing the screenings and thanked the college’s Arts Career Community donors, Eugene and Ruby Moore, and the Private John Grady Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for their support. 

Garrigus’ film chronicles the events of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, where delegates debated and discussed ideas for a stronger central government to bind the states together. 

It sheds light on the actions and ideas of still-famous figures like James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, while also spotlighting other important founding fathers at the convention, like Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, who penned the preamble to the constitution. 

Garrigus used actors to portray the delegates but limited their dialogue to the founding fathers' own words, as documented in letters, speeches and notes from the time. 

The film stands on the shoulders of the 13 historians Garrigus interviewed for the project, Garrigus said. Those historians shared insights into the varied motivations of the delegates and context for how the decisions of the convention affected American history going forward and life in the U.S. today. 

During a Q & A with Smith and audience members following the 1 p.m. showing of the film, Garrigus explained that after finishing his last documentary, on the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers, he started looking for another invention he could illuminate. 

“I decided on the constitution because I didn’t know that much about it,” he said. “And I thought, well that’s an invention story … it’s not just a story of something that happened [238] years ago, but it’s so entirely relevant today.”