Covering the election and politics in your course this Fall?

Kanopy is a digital streaming service that provides access to over 26,000 films that you can view from home, in the classroom, or anywhere with an internet connection, using your City Tech library barcode.  All films in the collection have public performance rights, and can be used in classroom instruction.  
Below is a selection of election related films, or browse the full Kanopy collection – its user friendly search features are like browsing Netflix.
Please Vote for Me Run time: 58 mins.
Two males and a female vie for office, indulging in low blows and spin, character assassination and gestures of goodwill, all the while gauging their standing with voters. The setting is not the Democratic presidential campaign trail but a third-grade class at an elementary school in the city of Wuhan in central China. Chronicling a public school’s first open elections – at stake is the position of class monitor. (Excerpted from Sheri Linden’s review in The Hollywood Reporter)
Review on Rotten Tomatoes  View the trailer
The War Room Run time: 97 mins.
The 1992 presidential election was a triumph not only for Bill Clinton but also for the new breed of strategists who guided him to the White House. For this behind-closed-doors account of that campaign, cinema verite filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker captured the brainstorming and bull sessions of Clinton’s crack team of consultants–especially James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. The War Room is a vivid document of a political moment whose truths (“It’s the economy, stupid!“) still ring in our ears.
Review on Rotten Tomatoes  View the trailer
Bring it to the Table – Republicans & Democrats, Dialogue Not Diatribe Run time: 40 mins.
Before the last presidential election, filmmaker Julie Winokur’s 17-year-son called her the most politically intolerant person he knew. He told her that if the ‘other side,’ had a good idea, she wouldn’t know because she hadn’t been listening. His claim inspired her to travel across the country with a small folding table and invite Americans from all walks of life to sit down to discuss the roots of their political beliefs. At the core of this effort is a rallying cry for every citizen to take ownership of his/her biases and to recognize their personal responsibility in either dividing or healing the nation.
View the trailer
Recall Florida Run time: 60 mins.
Recall Florida starts out as a road movie, following former Attorney General Janet Reno as she cruises the backroads and byways of Florida in her recent bid for Governor. As Primary Day draws near, and the state Democratic Party strenuously opposes her candidacy, the documentary turns into a story on a fundamental right in crisis — the right to vote and have that vote counted. Recall Florida takes the audience behind the scenes, into the nerve center of a grassroots political campaign, to provide a fascinating inside look at — and raise very serious questions about — the election process itself.
For more information, contact Kimberly Abrams at kabrams@citytech.cuny.edu.