Politics
Michaan is known to use his liberal politics as a guide in managing the Grand Lake. In 2004, he publicly announced that the theater would not enforce the R rating of the political documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. The Grand Lake has also received widespread recognition for Michaan's use of the marquee as a political message board. In outrage at the 2000 presidential election, he posted this message on the high-traffic side of the marquee: "This Is America — Every Vote Should Be Counted" Since then, and with much support from the local community, Michaan has regularly used one side of the theater's marquee to display a timely political message. In addition to films, the theater also occasionally hosts talks and events on progressive political issues.
Between the midterm elections of November 2006 and January 2007, no political messages were displayed on the marquee, instead devoting the space to the names of upcoming films. Messages began to appear again in early January, beginning with "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," a statement derived from Edmund Burke's 1770 speech to Parliament, "Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents."
On September 9 and 10, 2009, the fifth 9/11 Film Festival was presented at the Grand Lake Theater. The theater premiered Dylan Avery's Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, narrated by Daniel Sunjata and produced by Korey Rowe and Matthew Brown.
On November 2, 2011, the Grand Lake Theater closed its doors in support of the Occupy Oakland general strike. The marquee read "We proudly support the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Closed Wed. to support the strike."
The Rachel Maddow Show featured the theater on November 2, 2011, as part of the video segment covering that day's Occupy Oakland protest and general strike. Maddow, a native of nearby Castro Valley, said that the Grand Lake Theater was one of her favorite landmarks when she was growing up and is still a favorite of hers as an adult today. See the Rachel Maddow Show Nov 2nd transcript for her full statement about the Grand Lake Theater.
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Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)