Political
Film Festival
CAMPAIGNING ON CELLULOID: How Cinema Informs and Reflects Changing Political
Communication on Screen
A lecture with former Congressman Steve Israel
Tuesday, July 9 at 7:30pm
$16 Public |
$10 Members
Join Steve
Israel, former Congressman, owner of Theodore's Books, and director of the
non-partisan Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, as we
kickoff our four-day Political Film Festival with a lively talk exploring the
fascinating ways that American politics and Hollywood cinema have shaped each
other, featuring campaign ads from Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan; numerous
clips from classic movies, including: Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington, State of the Union, The Last Hurrah, The
Candidate, The American President, Primary Colors,
and Swing Vote; and excerpts from hit television series House
of Cards and Veep. Whether you’re a political junkie or a
movie buff, this will be richly rewarding deep-dive into the complex
relationship between politics and movies.
Former
Congressman Steve Israel left
Capitol Hill – unindicted and undefeated – to pursue a career as a writer. In
addition to writing two critically acclaimed satires of Washington, he now
owns Theodore's Books, an independent bookstore in Oyster Bay. He
also heads the non-partisan Cornell University Institute of Politics
and Global Affairs, where for several years he taught a course on "Politics,
Media & Popular Culture." Israel was a Member of Congress
for sixteen years. He left in 2017, having served as House Democrats
chief political strategist between 2011-2015 as Chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. President Bill Clinton
called him “one of the most thoughtful Members of Congress.” Which, Israel
states, isn’t really saying much at all. Israel is a frequent political
commentator on MSNBC. His insights appear regularly in the New
York Times, The Atlantic Magazine, as well as The
Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He was profiled
on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and appeared on
CBS’ Sixty Minutes.
