Split: A Divided America

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Split: A Divided America
Poster of the movie Split- A Divided America.jpg
Directed byKelly Nyks
Written byPeter D. Hutchison
Kelly Nyks
Produced byJeff Beard
Peter D. Hutchison
Kelly Nyks
Jared P. Scott
StarringTucker Carlson
Al Franken
Norman Ornstein
CinematographyTarina Van Den Driessche
Edited byJared P. Scott
Music byMalcolm Francis
Production
company
PF Pictures
Distributed byFeature Presentations
Release date
  • April 1, 2008 (2008-04-01)
Running time
90 minutes
Country United States
LanguageEnglish

Split: A Divided America is a documentary film about partisan divides in American society. It examines perceived political divides between red and blue states, Conservatives and Liberals, and Republicans and Democrats from the perspective of cultural factors, including religion, urbanization, race, wealth, the modern media, contemporary campaigning strategies, and the "deterioration of civil discourse in our political experience". [1]

Contents

Kelly Nyks directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the film with co-writer Peter Hutchison and Jeff Beard. [2] The cast includes several real life political and media figures, including Bruce Bartlett, Tucker Carlson, Noam Chomsky, Thomas Frank, Al Franken, Jesse Jackson, Sharon Pratt Kelly, Norm Ornstein, Robert Putnam, and others. [3]

The documentary was broadcast domestically on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) and was distributed to classrooms nationwide in collaboration with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). [2]

Synopsis

Awards

Official festival selections

AFI Dallas International Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, Gloria Film Festival, Connecticut Film Festival, Berkshire International Film Festival, First Take Film Festival, Riverside International Film Festival, deadCENTER Film Festival, Sacramento Film Festival, Mexico City Documentary Film Festival, TallGrass Film Festival, We The People Film Festival, Cinesol Film Festival[ citation needed ]

Reviews

Cinematical - review by Peter Martin
"Walking a veritable tightrope between red and blue states, Nyks travels across the country, talking to a wide cross-section of random citizens, party leaders, political celebrities and media pundits. He winds up with a sincere, thoughtful inquiry into the neuroses of a fractured nation.” [4]

Moving Pictures Magazine - review by Elliot V. Kotek
“Journalists, civil libertarians and evangelists each get their say and Nyks, by serving up the information in bite-sized topical chunks, keeps the conversations tight and on point. By mixing the media with superb graphic animation, film clips and narrated cheat sheets that help keep track of historical context, Nyks not only helps us digest the discourse, but forces us to enjoy it. “ [5]

Interviewees

References

  1. "SPLIT: A Divided America". Stanford CIS. 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
  2. 1 2 "Split: A Divided America Movie Details and Discussion at the Independent Film Channel - IFC.com". www.ifc.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
  3. 1 2 Split: A Divided America (2012) - Kelly Nyks | Cast and Crew . Retrieved 2025-11-25 via AllMovie.
  4. "AFI Dallas Review: Split: A Divided America". Cinematical. Archived from the original on 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
  5. "Moving Pictures: Split: A Divided America". www.movingpicturesmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2025-11-25.