We are excited to announce the premiere of “The Contested Convention,” a short documentary directed by Emmy-nominated Stephanie Wang-Breal and produced by DB Productions’ Executive Producer Xan Parker and Academy Award nominated Robin Honan.
Released just in time for the upcoming 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, this 13 minute documentary takes us back to the summer of 1976… to Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri… to witness the most tightly contested convention in the Republican Party’s history. At that RNC, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford battled mano-a-mano to become their party’s Presidential nominee. “The Contested Convention” is the newest installment of ELECTIONS, a film series produced by ESPN Films for Nate Silver’s website FiveThirtyEight, about the history of American Presidential primaries and elections.
“The Contested Convention”
Exactly 40 years ago this summer, Kansas City, Missouri was abuzz, as over 22,000 delegates gathered inside the Kemper Arena to determine who would become that year’s Republican Presidential nominee. This would be the first – and only – time a race was going to be settled at the Republican National Convention. Would it be Gerald Ford, the only person to serve as both Vice President and President without being elected to either office? Or would the nomination go to former Hollywood star and then California Governor, Ronald Reagan?
The 1976 battle was tense, electrifying, with secretive twists and turns at every hour – and this was all before Twitter. Told through the crystal-clear recollections of GOP leaders like former Vice President Dick Cheney, Reagan campaign strategist Charlie Black, and former Attorney General Ed Meese, and journalists like former ABC News White House correspondentAnn Compton, “The Contested Convention” takes us into the stormy atmosphere of the Kansas City arena and unveils the backroom deals, brawls and delegate-swapping that made this the most tightly contested convention in the Republican Party’s history.
“The Contested Convention” premiered today on FiveThirtyEight. Watch it here.
About the Director: Stephanie Wang-Breal
Stephanie Wang-Breal directs and produces independent documentaries, commercials, art videos for nonprofit organizations, and stories for media outlets including CNN, UNICEF, MTV, Discovery and the Biography Channel. She directs corporate, non-profit and branded content for DB Productions. Her feature documentary, Tough Love, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and HotDocs Canadian International Film Festival in 2014, and was broadcast on PBS’ series “P.O.V.” in 2015. Wang-Breal is also the director/ producer of Emmy®-nominated documentary, Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I Love You, Mommy). Awarded three Grand Jury Best Documentary Awards at the AFI/ Discovery Silverdocs Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, as well as a 2011 CINE Special Jury Award, the film was broadcast nationally on the award-winning PBS series “P.O.V.” Wang-Breal sits on the Board of the New York Women’s Foundation.