This weekend, the Graduate School of Political Management is cosponsoring the Politics on Film Festival. The festival spans three days and Politics on Film will be joining GWU on Saturday to launch three new documentaries.
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time: 12 pm - 6 pm
Location: GWU Marvin Center, Amphitheater
800 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Directions: Blue/Orange Line to Foggy Bottom
Information on tickets can be found at www.politicsonfilm.com.
More information on the 3 day festival and the movies to be shown at GWU are below.
A FESTIVAL OF POLITICAL FILM IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL
WASHINGTON, DC
MAY 7-10, 2009
Politics on Film is Washington DC’s annual, bipartisan film festival dedicated to providing a platform for films that tell stories of politics and policy. Filmmakers from across the country, top lawmakers, Washington insiders, issue media, and film fans in the most powerful city in the world will gather
for three days for:
§ Washington premieres of feature, documentary and international films
§ The best political ads from around the country
§ Panel discussions uniting filmmakers with policymakers on the nation’s most pressing topics
§ Special screenings, parties and events.
Film is the most prolific storytelling form of our time, drawing people to watch, listen and learn about topics that might never compel them to pick up a book or a magazine. Our nation’s politics, policy struggles and stories are frequently the basis and inspiration for movies. Surprisingly, although many film festivals focus on very narrow policy/political themes like the Environmental Film Festival or the Conservative Film Festival there is no festival devoted to showcasing film dealing with political subject matter more broadly. And there is no greater place to house such a festival than the nation’s capital.
Politics on Film is a project of the Washington Political Film Foundation and is made possible by an alliance with the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), an organization that develops and promotes solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. Founded by four former Senate Majority Leaders, the BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. Visit www.bipartisanpolicy.org for more information.
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2009
POLITICS ON FILM at George Washington University’s Marvin Center
12 NOON
The Soviet Story (WASHINGTON PUBLIC PREMIERE) Director: Edvins Snore
Illuminating one of the darkest corners of Europe’s recent past, the film begins with the story of the Soviet Union’s early collaboration with Nazi Germany as Stalin and Hitler employ terror tactics to intimidate and eliminate their victims. Using recently uncovered archival documents and first-hand accounts from former Soviet military intelligence officials, audiences see shocking claims about the crimes committed in the names of socialist and communist ideals.
Run time: 85 minutes – more at: http://www.sovietstory.com/about-the-film/
3:30 PM
Sprawling from Grace: The Consequences of Suburbanization
Sprawling from Grace is a documentary feature film about the unintended consequences of suburban sprawl. It illustrates the importance of altering the course of how we develop our nation’s cities. It communicates the dangers of continuing to invest in the inefficient horizontal growth patterns of suburban communities, and details how they threaten to bankrupt the remaining wealth of our nation. It explores how the depletion of fossil fuels will impact this living arrangement, and investigates the viability of alternative energies that are currently available. This film sounds the alarm that the cheap fossil-fuel-dependant suburban American way of life is not just at risk. It is in peril!
Runtime: 82 minutes—more at: http://www.sprawlingfromgrace.com/
** Panel discussion following the film with Director David Edwards, Joshua Schank and Emil Frankel of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Transportation Policy Project, noted transportation policy expert Alan Pisarski, and others.
7:30 PM
Concerto (U.S. PREMIERE) Director: Paul Alexander Morales
Based on a true story written by a former Philippines Army officer after World War II, Concerto brings the story of a Filipino family displaced by war and occupation to the screen. As the family treads the thin line between enmity and friendship with the occupying Japanese, the film explores how family values are questioned. Concerto fuses history and culture in a personal and metaphorical look at how a family survived the war.
Run time: 110 minutes—more at: http://www.digitalspiritfilms.com