2020
91 min.
978-1-893521-16-2
![This film has subtitles]()
English
Television Event
Synopsis
Television Event is an archive-based feature documentary that views the dramatic climax of the Cold War through the lens of a commercial television network, as it narrowly succeeds in producing the most watched, most controversial made-for-TV movie, The Day After (1983).
With irreverent humor and sobering apocalyptic vision, this film reveals how a commercial broadcaster seized a moment of unprecedented television viewership, made an emotional connection with an audience of over 100 million, and forced an urgent conversation with the US President on how to collectively confront and resolve the most pressing issue of the time — nuclear proliferation.
Release Date:2020
Duration:91 min.
ISBN:978-1-893521-16-2
Subtitles:English
Trailers
Filmmaker Credits
Producer, Director, Writer
Jeff Daniels
Producer
Amanda Spain
Editors
Eileen Meyer, Aaron Wickenden
Cinematographer
Nick Higgins
Composer
T. Griffin
Filmmaker Biographies
Jeff Daniels
View Jeff Daniels's Filmmaker Page
Producer, Director, Writer
Jeff Daniels is a multi-award winning producer/director specializing in feature-length documentaries. His latest film Television Event met overwhelming critical acclaim at Tribeca 2021 and has since won multiple awards. His first film, The 10 Conditions of Love (2009 - ABC), made international headlines for highlighting China’s arbitrary imprisonment of the Uyghur. His film Mother with a Gun (2016 - Netflix) went inside the militant Jewish Defense League, Fair Game (2017 - SBS) exposed systemic racism in within the Australian Football League, and City of Joel (2018 - Samuel Goldwyn Films) documented the controversial land expansion of a Hasidic community in New York.
Film Festivals
Awards
Sydney Film Festival Best Australian Documentary (Special Mention) 2021
Pyeongchang International Peace Film Festival Grand Jury Prize 2022
Sidewalk Film Festival Programmers’ Feature Film Award 2021
RiverRun Film Festival Best Director of a Documentary Feature 2021
Footcandle Film Festival Audience Favourite Feature Award 2021
Uranium International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature 2022
Resources: Downloads and Related Links
Downloads:
Praise
"Television Event is a compelling account of a unique moment of intersection in the history of American entertainment and US foreign policy. It shows how a small group of storytellers dramatized the reality of nuclear war and rallied a country and its president to embrace change. Moving in its own right, Television Event deserves a wide audience and a place in contemporary discussion of how entertainment should respond to the global challenges of our times."
— Nicholas J Cull, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
"A blast...witty, moving and engaging"
— The Hollywood Reporter
"Television Event offers a brilliant and compelling account of the improbable production of ABC’s made-for-TV movie The Day After, a film made and released as consummate Cold Warrior Ronald Reagan was arguing against a nuclear freeze and for a continuing build-up of weapons in the name of so-called deterrence. By turns horrifying, incisive, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Television Event chronicles the efforts of an unlikely group of writers, directors, actors, and producers to make a film graphically representing the impact of nuclear war on a midwestern community. By vividly documenting the massive constraints on making commercial media critical of militarism and the Cold War arms race, this film highlights the continued importance of media-making that challenges war-making by asking us to confront the impact of war on the civilian populations that must pay its price."
Carol A. Stabile
Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon and author of The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist
Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon and author of The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist