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“Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” will have its world premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.
He’s gone from the Massachusetts Statehouse to center stage of the 1988 Democratic National Convention to the Northeastern University classroom. Now, beloved Northeastern professor Michael Dukakis has made it to the silver screen, as the documentary film “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” premieres Tuesday in Brookline.
“One of the things with the governor that really stands out in talking about public service is how high he holds it as an ideal,” says Jeff Schmidt, who co-directed, co-produced and edited the film. “It’s not something that you use as a stepping stone or for celebrity. It’s something that is so beyond the notion of anything that you would ever compromise. He really thinks that it’s incredibly important.”
“Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” will have its world premiere as the opening night selection of the prestigious GlobeDocs Film Festival. The roughly 30-minute film screens Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.
The film follows Dukakis, distinguished emeritus professor of political science at Northeastern, from his upbringing as the son of Greek immigrants, through his years as Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic nominee for president, to his professorship and advocacy efforts shaping the next generation of civic leaders.
“Governor Dukakis made it clear to us with his first interview, and even before we even set up the interview, that that’s what he cares about,” says Erin Trahan, the film’s co-director and co-producer. “He’s devoted these last decades of his career to educating young people and mentoring them and he’s super proud of the students that he’s taught and that have gone off to do amazing things.”
Juan Gallego, also the son of immigrants and a 2019 Northeastern graduate, represents this next generation. Gallego worked his way from student in Dukakis’ popular political science class to Dukakis’ undergraduate assistant, and then to his current role at the Massachusetts Statehouse as associate deputy chief of staff for the Healey-Driscoll administration.
“We really wanted to showcase the fact that good, decent people of integrity are still picking up this idea of community service and taking it, in Juan’s case, to the current Massachusetts governor’s office,” says Trahan.
Throughout the film, a pot of homemade turkey soup simmers in Dukakis’s Brookline kitchen.
Northeastern features prominently in the film.
Several scenes were shot on the university’s Boston campus. The film also features archival images from the university’s Michael S. Dukakis Presidential Campaign Collection.
“The archives and special collections staff were very helpful,” Trahan says. “That was really great to have librarians at Northeastern guide us and help us out in multiple stages of our research and then identifying our archival material.”
The filmmakers say that they want to inspire audiences, particularly young audiences, who may feel skeptical about politics and politicians. Dukakis was the perfect subject.
“There are politicians or civic leaders who really do walk the talk of what they say, what they believe,” says Trahan.