US presidential campaign prompts movie project

WITH the US presidential campaign now in full swing, Slovak audiences are being offered an insight into artistic portrayals of the process. Each Thursday during late September and early October, one English-language movie on the theme will be screened along with English subtitles, thanks to the US Embassy and the InfoUSA organisation, as part of the “Hollywood elects the President” project.

WITH the US presidential campaign now in full swing, Slovak audiences are being offered an insight into artistic portrayals of the process. Each Thursday during late September and early October, one English-language movie on the theme will be screened along with English subtitles, thanks to the US Embassy and the InfoUSA organisation, as part of the “Hollywood elects the President” project.

The first such film evening, on September 25, brings The Manchurian Candidate, a 1962 movie directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra. The movie, based on a novel by Richard Condon, describes political twists during the Cold War. On October 2, Being There (1979) offers a more comedy-like view on politics. Based on a book by Jerzy Kosinski and directed by Hal Ashby, the film’s cast includes Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine.

The next event, on October 9, shows a still newer work: Tanner ‘88 is a satirical TV series written by Garry Trudeau and directed by Robert Altman. It was first broadcast before the 1988 presidential election and uncovers the backstage story of Michigan representative Jack Tanner’s efforts to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

A week later, on October 16, the popular black comedy Wag the Dog (1997), directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, brings the story of a spin doctor from Washington trying to distract the public’s attention away from a candidate’s sex scandals and towards a fictitious war in Albania. It’s followed, on October 23, by another Barry Levinson film, Man of the Year (2006), in which Robin Williams excels as Tom Dobbs, host of a politics TV show who decides to run for president. Last but not least, on October 30 comes The Ides of March (2011), a political thriller directed by George Clooney. This film is an adaptation of the play Farragut North written in 2008 by Beau Willimon, and stars Ryan Gosling and Clooney himself as a presidential candidate.

The film screenings take place on Thursdays at 18:00, in the Auditorium of the University Library in Ventúrska 11 in Bratislava. Admission is free.

InfoUSA is a venue for various events, often organised in cooperation with the US Embassy and Fulbright Commission in Slovakia.

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