DEMOCRACY NOIR, with filmmaker discussion, presented by Bay Area Book Festival

Why spend Inauguration Night at home when you could be in the company of friends? Join the the Bay Area Book Festival for a screening of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Connie Field’s new documentary, “Democracy Noir. ” Hailed as “a rallying cry for defending democratic principles worldwide,” the film follows three Hungarian women—a journalist, a nurse, and an opposition politician—as they fight in different ways to expose corruption and lies in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. The film makes astute parallels between Orbán’s and Donald Trump’s mutual pursuit of autocracy, and is ultimately a reminder of the power of the people in preserving democracy. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director and producer Connie Field, Heyday publisher Steve Wasserman, National Book Award finalist Arlie Hochschild (author of, most recently, Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, a New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year); Mark Danner, former staff writer for The New Yorker, and other guests. Come out for food, drinks, books, and camaraderie! Doors open at 5 pm, and the screening starts at 5:30.