EXCLUSIVE: This summer, the big screen will offer a frightening, almost realistic look at what America’s possible political future might be – and I don’t mean next month’s Republican convention in Milwaukee.
Produced by Warren Littlefield, the film shows another attack on democracy on January 6 and the confirmation of a presidential election in near real time. War game was taken over by Submarine Deluxe and Decal Releasing, I learned.
Bomb: The Hedy Lemarr Story Distributor Submarine Deluxe plans to screen Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber’s film at the Film Forum in New York City on August 2nd and then release it worldwide starting August 9th. Decal Releasing will War game on VOD in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election, while Boat Rocker will distribute the film overseas.
“We are thrilled to be working with directors Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber, as well as producers and partners Boat Rocker, Matador Content, Anonymous Content and Vet Voice Foundation on their Sundance docu-thriller. war game,“, Submarine Deluxe co-founder Dan Braun said this morning. “Honestly, it’s hard to imagine a more relevant and scary film; one that we believe will resonate with audiences.”
The enthusiasm was shared.
“We are very pleased to partner with Submarine Deluxe and Decal to War game “The film will be in theaters this fall,” former Emmy winners Moss and Gerber said Friday. “The film is an invitation into the White House Situation Room to experience a real-time look at a dystopian but entirely plausible political future and a frightening, gripping, but also hopeful look at presidential decision-making in times of crisis.”
“Hopeful” is the key word here.
War game actually has a screening tonight at DC/DOX in Washington DC. Following the screening will be a panel discussion moderated by Kara Swisher and featuring former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Moss, Gerber, Vet Voice Foundation CEO and game producer Janessa Goldbeck, former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Chris Jones, Elizabeth Neumann, Major General (retired) Linda Singh and Lt. Colonel (retired) Alexander Vindman.
After the film debuted in the Special Screening section at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, War game stars former Governor Bullock as a newly re-elected, semi-fictional president. Bullock’s John Hotham is forced to deal with an uprising of renegade military personnel and armed insurgents on a semi-fictional January 6, 2025 that makes the real January 6, 2021, seem like a brazen child’s play. This time, the assault on the Capitol and state legislatures across the country comes with firepower and an onslaught of deepfakes on social media.
This leaves incumbent President Hotham and his not always unanimous cabinet and advisers with just six hours to crush the insurrection instigated by a defeated extremist rival and secure confirmation of the election result. While the staged Situation Room talks of using the Insurrection Act and other measures, democracy risks falling into a well-laid trap set by neo-Nazis and high-tech nativists.
Featuring former presidential candidate Bullock as role players including former Senators Heitkamp and Doug Jones of Alabama, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark and Lt. Col. Vindman, the 94-minute unscripted film by political pundits, policy addicts and others offers a glimpse behind the curtain at the very real and all-too-human people who make the tough decisions.
Based on scenarios and research by the Vet Voice Foundation, War game could just as aptly be called “Potential Day After Tomorrow,” depending on the outcome of the rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump—especially since the latter has promised to pardon the attackers of January 6, 2021.
Trump and others on the right call the attackers “hostages” of the federal government, which they must pay for their prison sentences.