Tim Timmerman, Hope of America is a nice upbeat comedy about a corrupt student body president of a suburban Utah high school, his cynical quest for a political career, and his ultimate redemption through love. I just watched the film (currently free on Amazon Prime) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
But what makes it especially noteworthy is that the film was produced by a new Silicon Valley-based company, VidAngel; the film has been well received (currently a 91% audience approval in Rotten Tomatoes); and the owners of VidAngel are — libertarians.
Says the company’s co-founder, Neal Harmon: “The founders of VidAngel are entrepreneurs, and slightly Libertarian-leaning to say the least. We feel like that free-market solutions, you know, when you allow the market to speak back and forth, then things get solved a lot quicker than trying to have one particular party or moral authority decide what’s right and what’s wrong.”
The company was originally created as a streaming service with family-friendly filtering, such that parents could screen out violence or profanity with the touch of a button. That angle has come under siege in the courts (from traditional film studios), so VidAngel is now creating its own content. If VidAngel can replicate Tim Timmerman level quality going forward, they have a serious future.