An election-time salute to the democratic process, with a slate of 16mm cartoons, mini-documentaries, satire, and propaganda. Audio recordings of vintage campaign songs were played prior to showtime.

As one of the strangest and most disturbing presidential elections slouches towards voting day, revisit the contests and politics of yesteryear.

This special program of shorts on 16mm takes us on a 45-year journey through the highs and lows of American democracy through cartoons, propaganda, mini-documentaries, news, and satire.

Contenders vying for your vote include: archival presidential film footage as early as the 1890s; Jean Stapleton narrating an award-winning short documentary on the women’s suffrage movement; the jaw-dropping “comedy” of five-year-old Shirley Temple as a DC call girl, and seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. as a tap-dancing president; infamous Christian homophobe and former orange juice girl Anita Bryant gets a pie in the face during a press conference; election campaigns by Bugs Bunny and Betty Boop; and more.