A new documentary about young people running for public office has put Hillsdale Mayor Michael Sessions back in the spotlight.
Sessions, now 20, made headlines two years ago when he was elected mayor at the age of 18.
Sessions was invited to the premiere of the film, “The Youngest Candidate,” last week at the Traverse City Film Festival, which sold out to more than 550 people.
“The movie brought back a lot of different experiences when I ran for office,” Sessions said. “To see other kids going through that was very fun and entertaining at the same time.”
Director Jason Pollock, a former assistant to famed filmmaker Michael Moore, started work on the film nearly three years ago and hoped to finish it in time for this year’s elections.
“I made it to try to inject some dialogue about the youth vote and youth activity in the presidential election,” he said. “I thought it was a really important thing in America that the youth get into politics.”
The film follows four young candidates between the ages of 18-21 who ran for public office in 2007.
Though Sessions is recognized at the end of the movie, his role within it is small, as he had already been elected in 2005.
“It was a pretty accurate portrayal,” Sessions said. “There were parts in it where you cry, you laugh and smile. It brings memories of when I was running to see these kids went through the same thing I went through.”
David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants produced the film.
“The time I sold it to them they talked to me about Michael (Sessions), who was on the show,” Pollock said. “They had had these teen mayors on before, and it was something they were interested in doing.”
Moore, who was elected to his local board of education at the age of 18, also attended the event and led a question and answer session at the end of the screening with a panel of young candidates and elected officials, including Sessions.
The film won best non-fiction film by a new filmmaker and is currently being screened at film festivals around the country to try and be picked up by a distributor. For more information visit www.theyoungestcandidate.com.