An anti-communist film festival is in the works for this October to bring forgotten Cold War films back to the big screen, which organizers hope will serve as an eye-opener for those joining a growing Marxist movement in the United States.
Mark Judge, a conservative activist and author best known as Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s high school friend, launched America’s first anti-communist film festival in partnership with the Victims of Communism Foundation.
For him, the festival is a kind of antidote for conservatives’ longtime frustration with the far-left dominating the messaging in Hollywood films.
Mr. Judge envisions a showcase of classic films that counter today’s leftist cultural influence and socialist ideology, especially for young audiences.
“Imagine free admission for students. We will inoculate them against the poisonous ideology of communism for a fairly inexpensive program,” he said.
Last year, Mr. Judge attended screenings of films such as “The Lives of Others,” “Trial” (with Glenn Ford) and “My Son John” at the American Film Institute and got the idea to showcase this genre as a curated festival.
By September, he launched a GoFundMe campaign and was immediately flooded with interest from across the country. The GoFundMe campaign has raised almost $26,000 to date.
“The response was instantaneous. I was instantly getting emails from people around the country going, ’ When is this? How do I get involved in this?’” he said in an interview with The Washington Times.
The Victims of Communism Foundation, which operates the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, contacted him in February, saying it had been searching for exactly that kind of cultural outreach to penetrate popular culture and also promote the museum.
Classic films potentially in the festival’s lineup include: “Doctor Zhivago,” “Red Dawn,” “The Lives of Others,” “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “1, 2, 3, Hail Caesar (George Clooney),” “Freedom’s Fury (Hungarian Olympic water polo team, 1956),” “Dreaming Against the World” and the 1954 “Animal Farm” animation.
Elizabeth Spalding, chair of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and founding director of the museum, said the festival’s anti-communist films will complement the museum’s exhibits, such as its unique collection of gulag art.
“At the museum, we welcome many student groups and a lot of dignitaries and government officials, but we need more people who don’t know much about the dangers and threats and pernicious ideology of communism,” Ms. Spalding said. “This film festival will bring in all sorts of people from all over, not just the D.C. area, we hope. And that’s a great thing to bring in new people.”
The Moving Picture Institute is also involved and potentially bringing filmmakers to the screenings.
Mr. Judge pursued the American Film Institute Silver Theater and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, to host the festival. He said a special events manager was enthusiastic about it, but after two months, the center shut it down, following disputes over changes in screen rental rates and rescheduling dates.
Mr. Judge attributes that to the center’s left-wing politics.
“The directors and all my friends were like, ‘They’ll never approve this. They’re communists over there. And sure enough, after about two months, they said, ‘We can’t accommodate you.’”
The Washington Times reached out to AFI Silver for comment.
Conservatives do not need to spend tens of millions producing new content, Mr. Judge said, because the existing trove of great anti-communist films simply needs to be revived.
Mr. Judge invited celebrities to the festival, including Mel Gibson, Gary Oldman and Adam Driver.
He also hopes the film festival becomes an annual, legacy event that eventually attracts young filmmakers who dare to challenge Hollywood’s leftist agenda.
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