Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre's festival probes relationship between movies and politics
Robert Redford's1972 film "The Candidate" will be screened at Cinema Arts Centre's Political Film Festival. Credit: Everett Collection
If you don’t like mixing entertainment with politics, former Rep. Steve Israel might be able to change your mind.
“After I left Congress, I taught a course at Cornell University on film and politics,” says Israel, 66. “I thought it would be interesting to essentially bring that course to Long Island at the Cinema Arts Centre.”
That’s the genesis of Israel’s Political Film Festival, which starts Tuesday night and runs through Friday at the independent Huntington movie theater. Initially envisioned as a lineup of three classic films featuring post-screening discussions between Israel and two other political insiders, Rep. Peter King and political strategist Basil Smikle, the festival has undergone a last-minute trim: With King unavailable to appear, there will now be only two films. They’ll follow Tuesday's program, “Campaigning on Celluloid,” in which Israel will use clips of movies, classic campaign ads and television series to illustrate the tricky relationship between politics and the media.
“Films can be a reflection of a political climate, and a political climate can often be projected in film,” Israel says, adding that he chose his titles "because I think they’re topical going into this election, no matter what political party the viewer happens to occupy.”
WHEN WHERE The Political Film Festival runs Tuesday through Friday at the Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. Tickets are $16 per screening. For the full schedule and to purchase tickets, go to cinemaartscentre.org. For more information, call 631-423-7610.
Israel will devote Thursday to “The Best Man,” starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson as politicians locked in a brutal election campaign. Written by Gore Vidal and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, the movie focuses on a “deep-thinking, righteous Secretary of State who runs for the presidency against a street-smart, canny, xenophobic opponent,” Israel says. “So this film in 1964 portrayed President [Donald] Trump and Hillary Clinton 50 years before the race.”
Friday’s closing film, “The Candidate” (1972), is something of a cult classic among the political class. Written by former speechwriter Jeremy Larner and directed by Michael Ritchie (who went on to helm 1975's “The Bad News Bears”), the film casts Robert Redford as a lawyer whose daringly honest and plain-spoken campaign for Senate is increasingly compromised as he gets closer to winning.
“It was written as entertainment, but for people in politics it’s viewed as a documentary,” Israel says. As a tribute to Redford’s character, Israel adds, he often celebrated his own winning campaigns by turning to his team and quoting the film’s famous final line: “What do we do now?”
In addition to the Political Film Festival, Israel helped launch last month’s inaugural Gold Coast Book Fair, which boosted the profile of his Oyster Bay bookstore, Theodore’s Books. But Israel says he is not seeking any office.
“My life couldn’t be better,” he says. “I’m still active, except I don’t have to raise money and I don’t have to vote in Congress.”
