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Election Day Brings 'The Front Runner' to the Winter KCET Cinema Series on November 6

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Q&A immediately following with co-writer/director Jason Reitman and producer Helen Estabrook.

“Politics in this country - take it from me - is on the verge of becoming another form of athletic competition or sporting match.” - Presidential Candidate Gary Hart’s Withdrawal Speech, May 8, 1987

Relevant now more than ever, “The Front Runner” looks back at the watershed in politics that was the 1988 presidential race and Senator Gary Hart, the Democratic candidate who seems to have a winning path to the White House and enjoys particularly strong appeal with idealistic young voters. When allegations of an extramarital affair surface in the news media, Hart’s (Hugh Jackman) campaign abruptly derails, together with his personal life. Based on the 2014 book "All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid" by Matt Bai. The ensemble cast includes Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons and Alfred Molina.

Says Reitman, “This was a moment when the ground shifted underneath everybody — it shifted quickly and afterwards, the world was different. In 1987, you had A Current Affair, the first gossip news show, you had the emergence of the satellite news truck, you had CNN giving their reporters satellite phones for the first time, you had the first generation of reporters who grew up on Woodward and Bernstein as celebrities and you had a new force of women changing the workplace. All of these things were happening at the same time and together, they created conditions Hart failed to foresee.”

The film screens at 7:00 p.m. at the ArcLight Cinemas in Sherman Oaks. Immediately following the screening, Deadline film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen in KCET’s Must See Movies, will moderate a Q&A session with co-writer/director Jason Reitman and producer Helen Estabrook.

“The Front Runner” will be released in theaters on November 21 by Sony Pictures.

Deadline.com is the presenting sponsor for the winter season of the KCET Cinema Series, which runs October 23 through December 11. The winter series is sold out and there will not be walk-up admissions available for the screenings.                    

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