Hundreds of people turned out at dusk Sunday for the local premiere of a documentary film about how a tiny town was turned upside down by a new neighbor: the president. "Crawford" played on a 50-foot outdoor screen at the football field because the one-stoplight town has no movie theater. About 300 people sat on blankets and lawn chairs on the warm, windy night and munched on $2 bags of popcorn sold at the entrance. David Modigliani's documentary tells how many of the 700 residents' lives changed after George W. Bush (web|news|bio), while governor, bought a 1,600-acre ranch in 1999 in the early days of his presidential campaign.

Modigliani, who moved to Austin several years ago, said he made the film after feeling "betrayed" when he learned that Bush was not from Crawford. The documentary has been shown at several festivals.

The film spans about eight years, although Modigliani filmed in Crawford from 2004 through last fall. He also used news footage and residents' home videos of Bush speaking at the town's high school graduation in 2000 and the school band playing at his first inauguration.

The movie, through the eyes of residents, shows how the obscure agricultural community became inundated with tourists, the media and war protesters while its economy initially boomed with new souvenir shops and other businesses.

Among those featured are a college administrator, Baptist minister and souvenir store owner who support Bush, and a teacher and student whose dislike of the president increasingly make them feel like outsiders.

"Before he came here, this was an overwhelmingly Republican community - or else he wouldn't have bought a ranch here - but it wasn't an 'it's us or them' mentality," Misti Turbeville, a history and debate teacher, said Sunday. "Suddenly, it brought to the surface these tensions, and it made politics feel like more of a divisive issue than a difference of opinion."

Turbeville said she believes the ranch purchase was a public relations ploy to help get Bush elected. But she said the town has benefited in some ways, such as students being able to see Bush, some of his Cabinet members and even world leaders in town during ranch visits.

In 2001, after their summit at the ranch, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bush spoke to the school's sixth- through 12th-graders. The leaders even answered students' questions.

"That still gives me chills," Turbeville said. "I wish every teacher in America could have that opportunity. It was really exciting to bring those discussions about politics into the classroom, but you have to be careful because a lot of teenagers and parents don't want to have their thoughts challenged."

Warren Johnson, a McLennan Community College administrator in nearby Waco, said the positives of having Bush as a sometime neighbor have outweighed the negatives. In addition to expanding children's awareness of the world, property values in town increased, he said.

Johnson said that he is pleased with the film and that it may surprise people who think all residents unilaterally support Bush.

"Crawford is not lockstep pro-George Bush (web|news|bio)," Johnson said. "We're probably a cross-section of mid-America. It's probably the same as a million other little communities."