ELECTION 25th Anniversary

Even in a career full of modern-day greats, Alexander Payne’s 1999 breakout, ELECTION, is still one of his sharpest, funniest, and most unfortunately relevant works. Adapted by Payne and Jim Taylor from Tom Perrotta’s novel, ELECTION follows a bitter high school teacher who goes out of his way to try to prevent an über-ambitious student from becoming class president. Turning in career-highlight performances, Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon dive into their roles with aplomb, and longtime Payne collaborator Kevin Tent brings out the film’s acerbic wit and biting drama. Whether viewed as a straightforward high school dramedy or a satirical allegory for American politics at large, ELECTION is an instant-classic that has only increased in acclaim with age.

Alexander Payne is a filmmaker best known for SIDEWAYS, ELECTION, THE DESCENDANTS, NEBRASKA, and THE HOLDOVERS, among many others. For SIDEWAYS and THE DESCENDANTS, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for his direction of those two films as well as the screenplay for ELECTION.

Kevin Tent, ACE, is an editor best known for his longtime collaboration with Alexander Payne on all of his feature films including SIDEWAYS, ELECTION, THE DESCENDANTS (Oscar nom), NEBRASKA, and THE HOLDOVERS. He is president of the board of American Cinema Editors (ACE) and has received five ACE Eddie nominations.