Directed by Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill • 2017 • United States
Starring Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Walters
Composed entirely of archival footage, The Reagan Show is an ingenious work of media analysis about the original performer-president’s role of a lifetime. Teasing apart the spectacle at the heart of finger-on-the-button global diplomacy, the film follows Ronald Reagan’s rivalry with charismatic Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, tracing how the communicator in chief used his public-relations chops to overcome Soviet mistrust, the objections of a skeptical press corps, and the looming threat of World War III. Streaked with wit and political irony, and told solely through 1980s network news and videotapes created by the Reagan administration itself, this unique documentary dissects Reagan’s made-for-TV approach to politics as he faced down the United States’ greatest rival.
Up Next in 21st Century Cinema
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Nina
Directed by Hristo Simeonov • 2019 • Bulgaria
Starring Plamena Stefanova, Margita Gosheva, Borislav Rusev-BiniWith heartrending realism, this powerful portrait of a stolen childhood evokes the world of a young pickpocket who receives an unexpected chance to escape her desperate circumstances.
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Le quattro volte
Directed by Michelangelo Frammartino • 2010 • Italy
Starring Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano, Nazareno TimpanoLE QUATTRO VOLTE is an ineffably beautiful meditation on the mysterious cycles of life. Set in Italy’s mountainous region of Calabria, it traces the path of one goat herder’s soul, as it p...
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ABC Africa
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 2001 • Iran
Starring Abbas Kiarostami, Seifollah SamadianIn 2000, Abbas Kiarostami traveled to Africa at the request of the United Nations to document a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Uganda, where 1.5 million children had been orphaned by civil war and AIDS. Wo...
