Democratic cinema at Film Streams
Sean Darell
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Arts & Leisure
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User-friendly procedures like early, absentee and mail-in voting, as well as longer poll hours, have made the democratic voting process as accessible as possible. If it wasn't so risky, online voting may even be implemented to attract technology-obsessed young voters.
But do all of America's potential voters really understand what a democracy really means to the country?
This is the question that non-profit organization Film Streams is asking as part of its "Vote Democracy!" series - a collection of four documentaries about the democratic process, presented in partnership with Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Television & NET Radio with support from the Independent Television Service and Independent Lens.
The series, which runs through May 6, is also being featured at UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center through May 1.
Film Streams Communications Coordinator Casey Logan said he hopes the series will spur scholarly discussion and help people understand the strengths and weaknesses of the democratic process.
"[The series] really demonstrates the different ways you can look at democracy … and what it means to different people in different parts of the world," Logan said.
Throughout the series the audience is encouraged to engage in post-film discussions will fellow patrons, facilitated by local political science professors and those involved with the documentaries.
UNO Political Science Department Chair and professor Loree Bykerk and assistant professor Elizabeth Dahl attended the series' first night on April 15 to discuss the first film in the series, "Please Vote for Me," about three eight-year-old children in central China competing for the position of class monitor.
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