THE CONSULTANT – ARTHUR FINKELSTEIN

Working behind the scenes for decades, political consultant, pollster, and key advisor, Arthur Finkelstein, was instrumental in getting conservative candidates elected in the US, Israel, and across the globe. As a gay, Jewish man, he lived a double life of extreme contradictions. NOTE: Screens Virtually Only: Streaming window is 48 hrs after hit "play" and expires Sun. March 26 at 11:59pm.

  • Eado Zuckerman
  • Israel
  • 71 minutes
  • NR
  • ABOUT THE FILM

    [Virtual Only]

    People are inconsistent by nature, but Arthur Finkelstein, the master GOP political wizard who changed political campaigning all over the world, was a bundle of extreme contradictions. As a political consultant, pollster, and key advisor, he was influential and instrumental in getting conservative candidates, including presidents, elected in the US and Israel, from Alfonse D’Amato to Jesse Helms, from Nixon to Netanyahu. His brand of divisive, in-your-face messaging has become the new normal. But the charismatic Finkelstein was as skilled in compartmentalizing his private life as he was facile with polls and slogans. THE CONSULTANT features a plethora of archival footage and home movies and is told with the support of and first-hand accounts by his husband, Donald Curiale, with whom Finkelstein raised two children and married in 2005 when same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. The film raises the (largely unanswered) question: how could Finkelstein help so many candidates who were anti-gay or blatantly antisemitic?

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About Seattle Jewish Film Festival

Seattle Jewish Film Festival (SJFF) is one of the largest and longest-running film festivals in the Pacific Northwest and one of the leading Jewish film festivals in the country. A cornerstone program of the Stroum Jewish Community Center (SJCC) and its Arts + Ideas Program, each spring SJFF brings people together from across Washington State—and virtually around the globe—to celebrate and showcase the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish and Israeli life through cinema. Year-round, SJFF and SJCC Arts + Ideas present a season of performing and visual arts, author and chef talks—in-person, livestreamed, and virtually—to build connections, unlock perspectives, engage the community, and uplift the human spirit. Follow us on Facebook / Twitter (@seattlejff) and Instagram (@sjcc.arts).  

Tickets and more information at SeattleJFF.org + sjcc.org/arts.