Democracy in America

Democracy in America

In the run up to the midterm elections explore aspects of the complicated history and fraught state of democracy in the United States.

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Democracy in America
  • Moroni For President

    Directed by Saila Huusko & Jasper Rischen • Documentary • 2017 • 82 minutes

    The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Every four years, the Navajo tribe elects its president, whom many consider the most powerful Native American in the country. In the mids...

  • Now He's Out in Public and Everyone Can See

    Directed by Natalie Bookchin • Documentary • 2017 • 24 minutes

    A riveting polyphonic documentary, NOW HE'S OUT IN PUBLIC AND EVERYONE CAN SEE presents a fractured narrative about an unnamed man whose racial identity is continually redrawn and contested by clusters of impassioned narrators. This ...

  • One Bright Shining Moment

    Directed by Stephen Vittoria • Documentary • 2005 • 124 minutes

    When presidential candidate George McGovern took on incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972, no one really expected him to win – and he didn’t. But in his bold, grassroots, seat-of-the-pants campaign, which energized young and progressive A...

  • Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority

    Directed by Kimberlee Bassford • Documentary • 56 minutes

    In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s oppo...

  • Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune

    Directed by Kenneth Bowser • Documentary • With Joan Baez, Billy Bragg, Tom Hayden, Christopher Hitchens, Sean Penn, Pete Seeger, Peter Yarrow • 2010 • 97 minutes

    As our country continues to embroil itself in foreign wars, PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE is a timely and relevant tribute to an u...

  • Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times

    Directed by John Junkerman • Documentary • 2002 • 74 minutes

    “Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: Stop participating in it.”
    - Noam Chomsky

    Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in our Times gives the public a rare opportunity to see and listen to one of the m...

  • Priceless

    Directed by Steve Cowan • Documentary • 2011 • 58 minutes

    PRICELESS examines the growing cost of federal elections, the impact of political campaign fundraising on members of Congress and on policymaking, and the citizen movement to limit the "undue influence" of large campaign donors.

    This no...

  • Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square

    Directed by Kelly Anderson, Kathryn Barnier, Ryan Joseph • Documentary • With Frances Goldin, Tito Delgado • 2022 • 82 minutes

    In 1959 New York City announced a “slum clearance plan” by Robert Moses that would displace 2,400 working class and immigrant families, and dozens of businesses, from th...

  • Running for the Mountains

    Movie

    Directed by Julie Eisenberg and Babette Hogan • Documentary • 2024 • 76 minutes

    Running for the Mountains uncovers a story of dirty money and dirty politics – one that affects the entire nation. This entertaining and informative documentary exports the most valuable commodity coming out of Appal...

  • Taking Back Detroit

    Directed by Stephen Lighthill • Documentary • 1980 • 55 minutes

    In the 1970s and early 1980s Detroit was the setting for an unusual development in U.S. urban politics, as voters elected two socialists to citywide office. TAKING BACK DETROIT examines these people and their organization against th...

  • Tighten Your Belts, Bite the Bullet

    Directed by James Gaffney, Martin Lucas, and Jonathan Miller • Documentary • 1980 • 48 minutes

    Focusing on the 1970s fiscal crises in New York City and in Cleveland, Ohio, TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS, BITE THE BULLET looks at the root causes of fiscal crises in American cities, and the political response...

  • 30 Second Democracy

    Directed by David Vainola • Documentary • 1996 • 51 minutes

    :30 Second Democracy explores the disturbing relationship between political parties and the advertising industry during election campaigns. Through television advertising, techniques perfected to sell commercial products are readily app...

  • The Toxic Reigns of Resentment

    Directed by Jurgen Schflechner, Tim van den Hoff • Documentary • 2020 • 52 minutes

    The revival of nationalism paired with xenophobia, an increasing tribalization of politics, and a public sphere oscillating between cruelty and sentimentality mark significant parts of our current political Zeitge...

  • Us Kids

    Directed by Kim A Snyder • Documentary • 2020 • 86 minutes

    From Kim A. Snyder, director of the Peabody Award-winning documentary Newtown, comes an insightful, rousing coming-of-age story of a generation of youth leaders determined to take the reins and fight for justice at a most critical time i...

  • You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South

    Directed by Lucy Massie Phenix and Veronica Selver • Documentary • With Myles Horton, May Justice, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bernice Robinson • 1985 • 85 minutes

    Lucy Massie Phenix's You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South is about individuals who have dared to change the world for the be...