Hammer Forum Screenings

War Game

Thursday May 9, 2024 7:30 PM

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This summer’s Hammer Forum gathers politicians, veterans, and legal scholars to consider the pending threat to American Democracy posed by a potential political coup backed by rogue members of the US military following the 2025 presidential election. Introduced by executive producers Warren Littlefield and Jonathan E. Steinberg, the forum begins with a pre-release screening of 2024 Sundance Official Selection Documentary Film War Game, which sweeps audiences into an elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The film follows a bipartisan group of US defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers as they participate in an unscripted role-play exercise. Like actors in a thriller, but with profound real-world stakes, the players have only six hours to save American democracy. Visit the website: wargamefilm.com

The screening will be followed by a discussion with directors Jesse Moss & Tony Gerber and film participants former Governor of Montana Steve Bullock, US Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Major General (ret.) Linda Singh, former Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security Elizabeth Neumann, CEO of Vet Voice Foundation Janessa Goldbeck, founder of Fascination Lab Benjamin Radd, and moderated by UCLA professor and legal scholar Rick Hasen.

Co-presented with the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law.

War Game, 2024, Dir. Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber. DCP, color, 94 min.
Producers: Todd Lubin, Jesse Moss, Jack Turner, Mark DiCristofaro, Jessica Grimshaw, Nick Shumaker

War Game poster

In a hypothetical war game set in the White House Situation Room, President-elect John Hotham (played by former Montana Governor Steve Bullock) confronts an insurrection involving active-duty military on January 6, 2025. As seen in War Game (dir. Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber)

A man in a suit stands in front of two American flags, addressing the camera directly

Retired US Army Lt. General Roger Simms (played by actor Ralph Brown), known as “the Patriarch,” leader of the Order of Columbus, an anti-democratic paramilitary organization. As seen in War Game (dir. Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber)

The President and his senior advisors sit in the war room

In a hypothetical war game set in the White House Situation Room, President-elect John Hotham (played by former Montana Governor Steve Bullock) and his senior advisors confront an insurrection involving active-duty military on January 6, 2025. As seen in War Game (dir. Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber)

Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber stand arm in arm

Directors Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber

ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?

Ticketing: Admission is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Box office opens one hour before the event.
Parking: Valet parking is available on Lindbrook Drive for $15 cash only. Self-parking is available under the museum. Rates are $8 for the first three hours with museum validation, and $3 for each additional 20 minutes, with a $22 daily maximum. There is an $8 flat rate after 6 p.m. on weekdays, and all day on weekends.

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♿ Accessibility information

All public programs are free and made possible by a major gift from an anonymous donor.

Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, the Elizabeth Bixby Janeway Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, an anonymous donor, and all Hammer members.

Digital presentation of Hammer public programs is made possible by The Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.

Hammer public programs are presented online in partnership with the #KeepThePromise campaign—a movement promoting social justice and human rights through the arts.