Bite-Sized Films About Voting To Get You Ready For Election Day
The United States National Election Day is on November 3rd this year and while there are many ways to get prepared for voting, have you ever thought about watching some shorts to help you better understand the political landscape? Or maybe this year’s election just has you wanting to see some fictional representations of presidential campaigns, government intrigue and more.
Whatever the specific reason, we know that this is a big year, and a reminder of just how important it is to vote and let your voice be heard. Below are a list of some films or television episodes that can help inform or entertain you this election cycle.
Brotherhood
This Oscar nominee isn’t specifically about our election, but it holds a lot of truths about how different the cultural values can be between one generation and another. Part of the election season process is having to talk things through with family members and this can often be difficult. BROTHERHOOD takes the parent-child tension around a particular issue and dials it up to a literally life and death situation. You can watch this short on Miniflix.
Election Day
High school government. It may seem like small potatoes compared to the big boys, but there’s no question that what you learn on the small stage you take to the big one. Director Zach Wechter injected school politics with a thriller genre, offering a fresh re-examination of territory covered before by many great directors. This was a 2013 film from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. It was a Short of the Week selection during its initial release, where you can learn more about the film’s origins.
Le Jour
It’s election day in France in 2017. Nervous energy in the air. Thousands of people around the city, waiting for the results. Director Morgane Dziurla-Petit follows multiple different paths and walks of life, who all converge around this very important day. This short is an important one to be reminded of the grave importance of voting, of being involved and of being conscientious about the changes happening in the world. Not the most fun election day watch, but truly one of the more realistic depictions you’ll find of how it feels to be a regular person on the day results are decided. You can watch this short on Miniflix.
Suppressed: The Fight To Vote
It’s a 38-minute documentary that gets down into the weeds about what happened during the 2018 midterm elections in Georgia. If you want a real sense of what’s at stake when we vote, why the process is fragile and why it’s up to every single one of us to do our part, then this is the short for you. It was quietly released last year, but with so much talk of voter suppression coming into this election, it’s only become more necessary. This film is directed by Robert Greenwald, a director with years of commercial television and short documentary experience.
We The Voters
This 21-episode series was actually made around the 2016 election, but the topics that are covered remain as timely as ever. In 3–5 minute bites, you can learn about best voting practices, tactics behind debating, the history of our country’s voting processes, timely subject in our culture and so much more. Guest directors include Morgan Spurlock and Bao Nguyen, and many of the episodes focus on being fun, lightning fast and extremely accessible. For the fastest, most comprehensive overview of what you need to know about your views going into this election, we highly recommend this series.
And don’t forget to early vote or vote on November 3rd!
