Bring It to the Table: Republicans vs Democrats

Streaming video - 2014

While discussing politics at their dinner table, filmmaker Julie Winokur’s 17-year-old son called her ‘one of the most intolerant people he had ever met.’ The accusation stopped Winokur in her tracks and made her realize that she actually wasn’t listening to people with different political views. In fact, she was as much to blame for the divisive tone of politics in America as the people whom she blamed. So rather than continue to be a part of the problem, Winokur decided to become part of the solution. Realizing that it would be difficult to get people of different political persuasions around her own dining table, Winokur decided to bring HER table to THEM.. The documentary film Bring It to The Table features Winokur’s personal ...sojourn to unravel divisive politics in America. As the main character of the film, she travels with her crew on a road trip, literally taking a small cafe table covered in a star-spangled tablecloth to diverse communities across the country. Determined to seek a nuanced political dialogue about WHY we believe what we do, Winokur visits familiar places like public parks, churches, libraries, and barbershops, inviting people to engage with candor and authenticity about their beliefs.. In the course of the narrative arc, viewers witness Winokur undergo a gradual transformation from the ‘intolerant’ person that her son first describes to an enthusiastic listener willing to entertain opposing points of view. While engaging Table participants on timely issues like the economy, same-sex marriage, abortion, religion, and immigration, Winokur not only discovers that people’s views transcend party labels, but that her own beliefs are being challenged.. Bring It to The Table uses humor and candor to dismantle our assumptions and replace them with dialogue and understanding -- challenging the viewer to not only examine their own bias and beliefs, but to take personal responsibility for dismantling hyper-partisanship. This visually dynamic film breaks the fourth wall, bringing viewers behind the scenes, through the process of wrangling participants and into the filmmaker’s seat at the Table. Graphically, the star-spangled Table and its small iconographic centerpiece—a fake yellow flower—provide an anchor that unites disparate characters in a surprising exchange of ideas.. more