Perhaps the best way to whet your pre-election appetite will come in a first-rate slate of free, public programming during the weekend of Oct. 24-26 when the SLC Film Center presents documentary films, panel discussions, and talks featuring Phil Donahue, Naomi Wolf, and Michael Kirk.

The Raucous Caucus is impressive for its breadth and depth of programming, featuring films and presentations on the Iraq War, the state of investigative journalism, the threats to civil liberties, the abuse of power in the executive branch of government, and the forthcoming election. All programs are at the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts. Co-sponsoring the events are KUED, the League of Women Voters, High Road for Human Rights, and the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Additional sponsors include the Grand America, Barbara and Norm Tanner, Glenda and Jim Bradley, and City Weekly.

Among the highlights:

Friday, Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. — The screening of Phil Donahue’s documentary Body of War (2007) with an introduction by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and a post-screening Q&A with Donahue. The 88-minute film chronicles the story of Tomas Young, 25, who was paralyzed from a bullet to his spine after serving in Iraq for less than a week. Young comes home from the war and is transformed as he attempts to cope with his disability and as he takes up the cause against the war. The film features two original songs by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame. Co-produced by Ellen Spiro, the film has two awards to its credits having won best documentary honors at the Hamptons International Film Festival and the National Board of Review.

Saturday, Oct. 25:

12:30 p.m. — The first of five sessions with film producer Michael Kirk opens with a screening of the hour-long Emmy Award winning documentary The Lost Year in Iraq (2006). The film follows the early efforts of Americans after the fall of Saddam Hussein as they tried to seize control and disband the Iraqi police, army and Baathist Party government — and how they became hardened along the way to the realities of postwar Iraq. Kirk is well known for the Frontline programming he has produced independently. He is a leading figure in broadcast investigative journalism having won numerous awards including the Peabody Award, Dupont-Columbia Award, nine Emmys, and five Writer’s Guild of America honors. Kirk also will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.

2 p.m. — Kirk will take the stage with author and political commentator Naomi Wolf to discuss the state of investigative journalism. Wolf is a prolific essayist with numerous publishing credentials in some of the nation’s most widely read journals and periodicals. The Beauty Myth, her first book, was an international bestseller. Another book — Misconceptions, released in 2001 — was widely noted as a powerful and passionate critique of pregnancy and birth in America. Her most recent books include The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot and Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. She also is co-founder of the Board of The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, an organization devoted to training young women in ethical leadership for the 21st century. She is, indeed, a highly provocative writer and commentator. She also writes regularly for a blog housed at The Huffington Post.

3 p.m. — Kirk’s hour-long documentary Endgame (2007) will be screened. The film discusses the mistakes that brought Iraq to essential civil war and the enormous risks the American military faced in stemming the impact of sectarian violence. A Q&A will follow.

4:30 p.m. — Another Kirk offering to be screened is Cheney’s War (2007), again an hour-long Frontline episode, that examines the ways Vice President Dick Cheney sought to extend unlimited wartime powers to the executive branch and the impact of the ways the vice president’s role has been used to go well beyond Constitutional limitations. A Q&A also will follow.

7 p.m. — The two-hour quadrennial feature of Frontline’s coverage of the presidential campaign — Choice ‘08 — will be screened. Since Frontline’s first offering during the 1988 presidential campaign, the election episode is well known for drawing upon in-depth interviews with advisers, friends and those closest to the candidates as well as interviews with veteran observers of American politics. Kirk, again, will take questions following the screening.

Sunday, Oct. 26:

Noon — Naomi Wolf will read excerpts from Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries

1 p.m. — Wolf and Kirk will discuss the issues surrounding The Death or Mortal Wounding of Civil Liberties.

2 p.m. — A 90-minute film The End of America based on Wolf’s similarly named book will be screened. The film follows Wolf’s book detailing the 10 steps a country takes when it slides toward fascism. The book is historical in its treatment both in terms of the growth and decline of democracies as well as the manifestations directly impacting the U.S. Constitution in terms of eroding civil liberties. Filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern incorporate a style reminiscent of the well-known Inconvenient Truth documentary that includes a multi-camera version of Wolf’s lecture with an interactive audience as well as interstitial break-away segments, featuring both talking-head and “fly on the wall” interviews with grassroots political leaders, military generals, intelligence community top brass and innocent victims of civil liberties disputes.

For complete details, see here.