What is Democracy?

OCOpen Caption screening
Additional program content
SFSensory Friendly. Details HERE

There are no showtimes currently scheduled for this film.

What is Democracy?

Q&A filmmaker Astra Taylor with JBFC Programming Director Brian Ackerman

Director Astra Taylor’s (Examined Life, Zizek!) idiosyncratic, philosophical journey spans millennia and continents: from ancient Athens’ groundbreaking experiment in self-government to capitalism’s roots in medieval Italy; from modern-day Greece grappling with financial collapse and a mounting refugee crisis to the United States reckoning with its racist past and the growing gap between rich and poor. Featuring a diverse cast including celebrated theorists, trauma surgeons, activists, factory workers, asylum seekers, and former prime ministers, this urgent film connects the past and present, the emotional and the intellectual, the personal and the political, in order to provoke and inspire. If we want to live in a democracy, we must first ask what the word even means.

PAST EVENTS

Q&A filmmaker Astra Taylor with JBFC Programming Director Brian Ackerman
Q&A filmmaker Astra Taylor with JBFC Programming Director Brian Ackerman
Thursday, Jan. 17 2019, 7:00
This event is over. View all of our upcoming events.

Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, writer, and political organizer. She’s directed philosophical documentaries Examined Life and Zizek!; the author of the American Book Award winner The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age; and a co-founder of the Debt Collective. She's written for The New York Times, The London Review of Books, and The Guardian, among others. She is a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and a former touring member of the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Astra’s new book, Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, will be published in early 2019.

This film is part of the Global Watch 2018: Crisis & Social Action series.



Coming Soon

Wicked Little Letters

Opens 4/5—On sale now!

The Beast

Opens 4/12—Westchester Exclusive!

La Chimera

Opens 4/12

The Jacob Burns Film Center is proud to receive generous support from:

Email Sign Up

Get updates on screenings at the JBFC Theater, upcoming events, and more!