Join us for this special 25th anniversary encore presentation of "The American President" with special guest and festival Lifetime Achievement Award Best Director Honoree, Rob Reiner (presented by his dear friend Marc Shaiman).
Michael Douglas is President Andrew Shepherd, a widower and father who begins to get uncomfortable with the perception surrounding his being a single father. He drops in on a meeting with environmental lobbyists and meets hard-charging Sydney Wade (Annette Bening). After Sydney escorts President Shepherd to a State dinner, the two strike up a relationship, much to the chagrin of Sydney's boss, played by John Mahoney, and much to the delight of President Shepherd's political rival, the scheming Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss). Rumson's attacks on Sydney and the President's character send President Shepherd's approval ratings tumbling and eventually forces Shepherd to choose between one of his priority bills and the bill Sydney was hired to get passed.
"The American President" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music Original Score for Marc Shaiman. The film also garnered five Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Best Director (Rob Reiner), Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), Best Actor (Michael Douglas), and Best Actress (Annette Bening).
Rob Reiner first came to fame as a two-time Emmy Award winning actor on the landmark television series “All in the Family”. He went on to become an acclaimed director of some of the most popular and influential motion pictures. His work ranges from the satire “This Is Spinal Tap” to dramas like “Stand By Me”, “Misery”, “A Few Good Men”, and “Ghosts of Mississippi” to romantic comedies like “When Harry Met Sally”, and “The American President”, to the enduring classic, “The Princess Bride”.
His now 20 films also include “The Bucket List”, “Flipped”, “LBJ” starring Woody Harrelson and most recently “Shock and Awe”, about the run up to the war in Iraq (which stars Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, and Reiner himself).
Reiner is also a dedicated political activist. In 1998 he passed a tobacco tax initiative in California to fund early childhood development. And for seven years he chaired California’s First Five Commission to oversee the implementation of the initiative. In 2003 he led the effort to save Ahmanson Ranch from an environmentally harmful development in the Santa Monica Mountains.
In 2008 he and his wife, Michele helped form The American Foundation for Equal Rights, which filed a federal lawsuit to overturn California’s Prop 8. Their victory at the Supreme Court paved the way for marriage equality nationwide.