TV Academy Members are invited to the IFP/Chicago Facets Film Series Presentation of

LAST MAN STANDING: Politics Texas Style

Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 7 pm
Facets Multi-Media, 1517 W. Fullerton, Chicago
FREE TO NATAS Members and one guest.

Asking what the politics are that launched George W. Bush to national office, award-winning filmmaker Paul Stekler takes his camera to Texas for a lively, behind-the-scenes look at a pair of 2002 elections - one for state representative in a district that includes Lyndon Johnson's hometown, and a polarizing race for governor.

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Texas's role in national politics today is as big as the Lone Star state. Only a generation ago the heart of Texas was "Johnson Country" - solidly Democratic. Today it is solidly Republican. Not a single statewide office is currently held by a Democrat. The state's former governor, George W. Bush, is the third Texan - after his father and Lyndon Johnson - to serve as President since 1963. And the Texas brand of Republicanism he brought to Washington has come to dominate the national stage.

So a challenge to an incumbent Republican Texas legislator by an upstart 24-year-old Democrat with a Princeton education should have resulted in a predictable defeat. But as dramatically captured in "Last Man Standing: Politics - Texas Style," Patrick Rose's challenge of Rick Green was proof that nothing stands still for long in American politics. Some of Texas's leading political lights, whose very names demonstrate the pull of the state's politics on the nation - Bush strategist Karl Rove, former Governor Ann Richards, Clinton appointees Henry Cisneros and Paul Begala, and writer Molly Ivins - help decode the state's electoral dynamics, illuminating national politics in the process.

** Workshop with director Paul Steckler precedes the film at 6 pm at Facets. LAST MAN STANDING premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and aired on the PBS series POV. Come learn about the documentary process from director Paul Steckler. RSVP for the workshop at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

NATAS Members are admitted free with one guest. Please bring your membership ID to show at the door.

AS SEATING IS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS, YOUR EARLY ARRIVAL IS SUGGESTED. NO ONE WILL BE ADMITTED ONCE THEATER CAPACITY IS REACHED.

Enjoy the Show - Todd Lizak, Dan Moore, Film Club Chairs