Community Screenings
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Online Group Screenings
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Theatrical Screenings
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Panel Discussions and Q&As
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Community Screenings - Online Group Screenings - Theatrical Screenings - Panel Discussions and Q&As -
Featuring:
Heather Cox Richardson
Rep. Jamie Raskin
Steven Levitsky
Melissa Murray
Elie Mystal
Gowri Ramachandran
Ann Telnaes
Matt Wuerker
Written and directed by
Laura Nix
With the collaboration of
Ann Telnaes
Produced by
Hanne Phlypo
Co-produced by
Marion Guth
François Le Gall
Heino Deckert
Claire Lupa Chandler
Estelle Robin You
Executive Produced by
Sigrid Dyekjaer
Laura Nix
Salma Abdalla
Julie Goldman & Christopher Clements
Punctuated by the sharp and witty political commentary of Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes (formerly of the Washington Post), top political analysts lay bare the complex history and challenges of the world’s most influential political system, on the eve of the 2024 election.
Oscar-nominated Director Laura Nix trains her insightful lens on one of American democracy’s most extreme and vital eras in its nearly 250 years of existence. The film connects present-day crises with their roots in American history via commentary with A-list political observers who explore constitutional logjams, executive overreach, and a crisis in judicial ethics, as the country grapples with fundamental challenges that transcend individual presidencies.
Packed with the innovative dark humor of Telnaes’ cartoons, the film examines how the promise of American multiracial democracy faces a renewed backlash. Can the nation preserve its democratic ideals, or will it fall prey to an authoritarian takeover?
DEMOCRACY UNDER SIEGE is the sixth and final film in the award-winning DRAW FOR CHANGE series. Each film pairs a female filmmaker with a female cartoonist working under censorship, dictatorship, fascism, and other restrictive governments and societies, across the globe.
www.drawforchangetheseries.com
2025 RIAS Berlin Commission Media Award Winner
“Proves that satire and journalism can have an enormous impact together.”
- RIAS Berlin Commission
“Nix has made a bombshell film that is the equivalent of smelling salts under the noses of an engaged global citizenry.” - DOC NYC
LAURA NIX
Laura Nix is a Peabody award-winning, Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose work includes the feature length documentaries Democracy Under Siege, Inventing Tomorrow, The Yes Men Are Revolting, and The Light In Her Eyes, as well as the short Walk Run Cha-Cha. Her award-winning work has premiered at Sundance, Toronto, and the Berlinale, appeared at hundreds of film festivals worldwide, and has been released theatrically and on television in the US and multiple international territories. She has served as Executive Producer on several award winning documentaries includingYanuni, Sea of Shadows, and Delikado. Nix is based in Los Angeles, CA, where she runs her company Felt Films, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
ANN TELNAES
Ann Telnaes creates editorial cartoons in various mediums — animation, visual essays, live sketches and traditional print. She has won the Pulitzer Prize twice for her editorial cartoons in 2001 and 2025. Ann was awarded the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2016 and the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooningin 2023. After working for The Washington Post for over sixteen years, Telnaes resigned after a cartoon she submitted was rejected because it criticized billionaire tech and media executives, including Jeff Bezos, for trying to curry favor with President Trump.
HANNE PHLYPO
Hanne Phlypo is an award-winning Belgian producer. Recent films include Kabul, Between Prayers (Venice International Film Festival), Cuba and Alaska (Doc Fest Sheffield), Les recommencements (Visions du Réel), and Draw for Change (2023.) In 2010 she founded Clin d’oeil films and has since then produced over 40 films, focusing on creative documentaries with social and political statements. Today, Clin d’oeil films is one of Belgian’s most prominent documentary production companies, well known for cinematic films and local stories with a global impact. Hanne is also chairwoman of CBA Doc, an alumna of EAVE, Eurodoc, and a member of the European Film Academy.