92YTribeca
Story Leads to Action, hosted by Chicken & Egg Pictures (C&E) in partnership with Working Films, is a monthly-series that brings together social issue documentaries with on-the-ground advocates to develop partnerships and allied efforts. These first conversations at the 92Y have led to long-term, multi-year partnerships that have catalyzed significant and measurable change.
We bring Chicken & Egg-funded filmmakers together with strategic co-horts of NY-based activists, educators and community organizers to field-test, "design" and brainstorm on-the-spot community/audience engagement strategies for films in the series.
Following each screening, filmmaker Judith Helfand will lead a lively, engaged, interactive discussion with the directors, guest educators/activists and, most importantly, the audience – focused on how to balance the needs of these character-driven films with the needs of local, regional and global advocacy campaigns. Together we "test" engagement strategy ideas tied to local efforts in New York City. You can be part of a work-in-progress engagement strategy tied to the issues you care about the most.
PAST EVENTS
November 17th 2011
Report back from the REEL FOOD residency
Hosted by Working Films, the Fledgling Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures.
This month at 92Y Tribeca, our STORY LEADS TO ACTION series will celebrate two films in our REEL FOOD initiative: What’s on Your Plate?: two years and running with extraordinary impact and more to come, and Pipe Fire, just starting it’s engagement campaign.
What’s On Your Plate? is a witty and thought-provoking documentary about kids and food politics produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund, and co-produced by her daughter Sadie Rain Hope-Gund and her daughter’s friend Safiyah Kai Russell Riddle. Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows these two eleven-year-old city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates. The girls address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, how many miles it travels from the harvest to their plate, how it’s prepared, who prepares it, and what is done afterwards with the packaging and leftovers. The process leads the two friends to formulate sophisticated and compassionate opinions on the state of their society, and by doing so inspire hope and active engagement in others.
Filmmaker Catherine Gund and Mary Jeys, the film’s outreach coordinator, will be in attendance to share the film’s trailer and an education module and talk about the campaign’s impact. Invited guests to this celebration on the film’s success will include the educators, nonprofit partners, and individual campaign participants who have put the film and web project to work.
We will also be joined by Jessica Oreck, producer/writer/director of Pipe Fire. We’ll screen the trailer for this feature work-in-progress, which presents one year in the life of traditional reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland and illuminates an unfamiliar bond between man and nature. It tracks the Aatsinkis family through their seasonal routines as they catch and mark the new reindeer calves in the spring, herd newborns and adults in the summer, and slaughter them for food and pelts as well as mass consumption in the fall.
Both of these New York based projects will have just participated in our Reel Food residency. Judith Helfand, co-founder of Working Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures, will lead a lively and interactive discussion with the directors, invited guests, and YOU, the audience, about the success of What’s on the Plate, the promise of Pipe Fire and the outcomes of the Reel Food residency. Both these films present great case studies on how to balance the needs of a character-driven film with the needs of local, regional and global advocacy campaigns, with a focus on local efforts in New York City.
For more information, please visit the event.
December 15th 2011
Call Me Kuchu, by Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Call Me Kuchu tells the story – at once tragic and hopeful – of a tight-knit community of gay and transgender Ugandans in a country where homosexuality is a crime punishable by life imprisonment. At a time when an “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” (also known as the "Kill the Gays Bill") tabled in Uganda’s Parliament promises even harsher penalties, and religious leaders orchestrate ferocious anti-gay marches, Uganda’s “kuchus” find themselves fighting for justice and freedom on the frontlines of Africa’s gay rights movement. American evangelicals such as Scott Lively and California pastor Rick Warren have a history of supporting anti-gay sentiment in Uganda, only after a period of silence and a refusal to take sides in the matter, did Warren publicly denounce the bill.
For more information, please visit the event.
February 16th 2012
Special Oscar Event
Watch an Academy Award-nominated film in the lead-up to the Oscars! - Find out about how social issue filmmakers are using the attention of an Oscar nomination to spearhead their audience engagement campaign.
For more information, please visit the event.
March 15th 2012
A Quiet Inquisition
A doctor must choose between breaking the law or breaking everything she stands for. This is the reality of living in one of the six countries in the world where the termination of any pregnancy, even if in response to a result of rape, incest, or to save the woman’s life is illegal and actively prosecuted. A chilling reminder of the exact restrictions many US politicians and Tea Party members want to put in place here.
For more information, please visit the event.
October 27th 2011
Semper Fi: Always Faithful, by Rachel Libert & Tony Hardmon
Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger devoted 25 years of service to the U.S.
Marines, whose motto, “Semper Fidelis,” means “Always Faithful.” When
his 9-year-old daughter dies from a rare form of leukemia Ensminger
wants to know why. His exhaustive search for answers leads him to a
shocking discovery: the very organization that was supposed to protect
its own – the Marine Corps – has been covering up one of the worst cases
of toxic water contamination in US history. Demonstrating remarkable
dedication and perseverance, Ensminger spearheads a lengthy battle to
hold the Marine Corps accountable for its actions and make this
bombshell information public. Semper Fi: Always Faithful is both a
searing look at the American military’s betrayal of its soldiers and an
emotional story of one man’s transformation into the activist he never
imagined he’d become.
For more information, please visit the event.
March 17th 2011
Budrus, by Julia Bacha
A Palestinian leader unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed
movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until
his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.
For more information, please visit the event.
April 21st 2011
Bag It, by Susan Beraza
An average guy makes a resolution to stop using plastic bags at the
grocery store. Little does he know that this simple decision will change
his life completely. He comes to the conclusion that our consumptive
use of plastic has finally caught up to us and looks at what we can do
about it. Today. Right now.
For more information, please visit the event.
May 19th 2011
Monica and David, by Alexandra Codina
Monica & David explores the marriage of two adults with Down
syndrome and the family who strives to support their needs. Monica and
David are blissfully in love and want what other adults have—an
independent life. Full of humor, romance and everyday family drama, the
film uses intimate fly-on-the wall footage to reveal the complexity of
their story.
For more information, please visit the event.
February 10th 2011
Sun Come Up, by Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
Sun Come Up follows the relocation of some of the world’s first climate change refugees, the Carteret Islanders – a community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean. When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home.
For more information about the event, read Chicken & Egg's blog.
December 16th 2010
A Small Act, directed by Jennifer Arnold
When Hilde Back sponsored a young, rural Kenyan student, she thought
nothing of it. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but years
later she does. Now a Harvard graduate and a Human Rights Lawyer for the
United Nations, Chris Mburu decides to find the stranger that changed
his life. Inspired by her generosity, he starts a scholarship program of
his own and names it for his former benefactor.
The top
students in Mukubu primary school are in the exact same situation as
Chris once was. They are bright, but can’t afford to pay school fees.
With the creation of Chris’ fund, these students have new hope. But the
program is small; how many will qualify for a scholarship?
Using a strong narrative, the film interweaves seemingly separate lives into a cohesive whole. With clarity and grace, A Small Act, bears witness to the ripple effect a single action can create.
For more information, please visit the event.
November 11th 2010
The Fence, directed by Rory Kennedy
The Fence is launching a national community engagement campaign and
action initiative aimed at shifting national dialogue on immigration and
bolstering the work of organizations working directly in border regions
around issues such as humanitarian aid to migrants, opposition to the
fence, and immigrants’ rights. We will build support for the movement in
opposition to the fence and for efforts to hold Congress accountable
for new harmful border enforcement measures that have been implemented,
including the new Arizona law.
For more information, please visit the event.
October 21st 2010
Chess Movie (Katie Dellamaggiore), Our School (Mona Nicoara), Mariachi High (Ilana Trachtman) and Speaking in Tongues (Marcia Jarmel & Ken Schneider)
Our third year of this film series in partnership with Chicken & Egg
Pictures returns this season with excerpts from four films: Chess Movie (Katie Dellamaggiore), Our School (Mona Nicoara), Mariachi High (Ilana Trachtman) and Speaking in Tongues
(Marcia Jarmel & Ken Schneider). After the screening, Judith
Helfand will lead a lively and interactive discussion with the
directors, as well as guest educators and activists focusing on how to
balance the needs of these character-driven films with the needs of
local, regional and global advocacy campaigns. Topics include children’s
rights, human rights, the business and future of public education, and
the role of arts and culture in school programs.
For more information, please visit the event.
May 20th 2010
The Campaign, directed by Christie Herring
The Campaign rides the daily emotional rollercoaster of the community of people who worked to defeat Proposition 8 – the 2008 initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California. Granted exclusive access to the "No on 8" campaign headquarters in San Francisco, filmmaker Christie Herring captures the essence of this emotional journey by blending in-depth observational footage with interviews of different stakeholders, from Executive Committee Members to first-time volunteers. Herring punctuates these stories by following the experiences of a local lesbian interfaith coordinator from her June marriage to her Election Day efforts and delving into the post-election community aftermath. As a whole, The Campaign offers an intimate portrait of committed individuals inside a pressure cooker, compelled by both circumstance and their passionate beliefs to go far beyond their everyday selves.
For more information, please visit the event.
April 15th 2010
The Line, directed by Nancy Schwartzman
The Line is about a one night stand far from home that goes terribly wrong. As the filmmaker
unravels her experience, she decides to confront her attacker. Told
through a "sex-positive" lens, THE LINE is a 24 minute documentary
about a young woman - the filmmaker- who is raped, but her story isn't
cut and dry. Not a "perfect victim," the filmmaker confronts her
attacker, recording the conversation with a hidden camera. Sex workers,
survivors and activists discuss justice, accountability and today's
"rape culture." The film asks the question: where is the line defining
consent?
March 18th 2010
Rose & Nangabire, directed by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel
Rose & Nangabire (working title) is a feature-length documentary
that tells the extraordinary story of a mother and daughter reunited
after a decade separated by civil war. In the late 1990s, Rose Mapendo
lost everything to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic
of Congo. She emerged from the suffering advocating peace and
reconciliation. But after helping numerous victims to rebuild their
lives, there is one person Rose must still teach to forgive - her
daughter Nangabire.
For more information, please visit the event.
February 18th 2010
For a straight-from-the-heart Valentines Week
Made in India, directed by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha
Made in India
is a feature documentary that follows the journey of an infertile
American couple, an Indian surrogate and the reproductive outsourcing
business that brings them together. Against the backdrop of an
ever-growing international assisted reproductive technology industry we
get a respectful up-close look at the phenomena of "outsourcing"
surrogate mothers to India, a complicated clash of families, all in
NEED and all in crisis, reproductive technology and "choice" from a
global perspective.
For more information, please visit the event.
JANUARY 21st, 2010
Good Fortune, directed by Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine
Good Fortune is a feature length documentary that explores how massive, international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. Through intimate portraits of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development organizations, the film presents a unique perspective on the struggle to overcome world poverty.
Join Chicken & Egg Pictures and Working Films directors Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine in person for post-screening discussion with special guests.
For more information, please visit the event.
DECEMBER 17th, 2009
The Hunger Season, directed by Beadie Finzi
As the holiday season draws in, Story Leads to Action presents the 92YTribeca audience with a feature doc that asks why, despite the massive UN food aid programme, we are failing to solve the problem of hunger.
This ambitious feature length documentary directed by Beadie Finzi examines the business of food aid and asks whose life we value and why. Filmed over the course of a year in Southern Africa, the central narrative of the film follows the fortunes of a young teacher called Justice and the children in his care. Living in the heart of rural Swaziland, they are recipients of international food aid in a region which has endured chronic food insecurity for the past five years. In 2007, the drought has deepened to the point where it is estimated half the Swazi population will need food handouts to survive the worst crisis in living memory. But will they get the help they need? Filmed on location in Africa, the USA and Europe, The Hunger Season combines a compelling human narrative with a challenging examination of the system of international humanitarian food aid, charting the chain of decision making involved in how food aid is distributed and to whom.
For more information, please visit the event.
NOVEMBER 19th, 2009
(Timed to follow Veteran's Day on November 11th)
Lioness, directed by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers
Lioness tells the story of a group of female soldiers-a real-life band of sisters-from the Army's 1st Engineer Battalion who went to Iraq in the fall of 2003 as cooks, supply clerks, and heavy equipment operators and returned home a year later as part of America's first generation of female combat veterans. Lioness shares how a handpicked group of American female support soldiers came to serve in some of the Iraq war's bloodiest counterinsurgency battles since Vietnam. It explores how their experiences "outside the wire" are reshaping their lives back home in unexpected ways.
For more information, please visit the event.
OCTOBER 15th, 2009
Freeheld, directed by Cynthia Wade
Lieutenant Laurel Hester is dying. All she wants to do is leave her pension benefits to her life partner, Stacie, so she can afford to keep their house. Laurel's request is denied because they are not husband and wife. After spending a lifetime fighting for justice for other people, Laurel-a veteran New Jersey detective-launches a final battle. Knuckle-biting and dramatic, Freeheld chronicles a dying policewoman's bitter fight to provide for the love of her life.For more information, please visit the event.
APRIL 23rd, 2009
Wet Dreams and False Images, The Guarantee, 34x25x36 and Skin, directed by Jessie Epstein
Join Working Films, Chicken & Egg Pictures, the Fledgling Fund and Rooftop Films for a Jesse Epstein's "Body Typed" showcase featuring short films that explore body image from every angle. Find out more about each film on Jesse's blog.
In this video clip, the audience brainstorms with filmmaker Jesse Epstein on how to make the greatest impact with her series on body image.
For more information, please visit the event.
MARCH 19th, 2009
For the Next 7 Generations, directed by Carole Hart
Thirteen indigenous grandmothers from the Artic Circle, the Americas,
Asia and Africa come together to fulfill a prophecy. They were told
that their ancestral ways of prayer, peacemaking and healing were
vitally needed. Trained shamans and medicine women, when the
Grandmothers choose, they are fierce warriors. Their challenge: awaken
the people of the world to the catastrophic consequences we face if we
don't change the way we relate to each other and to mother Earth. And
to show us how.
For more information, please visit the event.
FEBRUARY 19th, 2009
Made in L.A., directed by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar
Made in L.A.
is an Emmy-award winning documentary that follows the remarkable story
of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as
they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from
a mega-trendy clothing retailer. In intimate verite style, Made in L.A.
reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are
gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply
human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity,
and the courage it takes to find your voice.
In the video clip above, Emmy-award winning filmmakers of "Made in LA" demonstrate how to make local connections with your outreach campaign.
For more information, please visit the event
JANUARY 2009
Accidental Advocate, directed by Jessica Gerstle
January 14th 2009, Chicken & Egg and Working Films presented The Accidental Advocate. When surgeon and athlete Claude Gerstle suffers a tragic bicycle accident that leaves him paralyzed from the neck down, he and his daughter, Jessica, find hope in stem cell research. The film is a wheelchair odyssey of a father and daughter who track down the thinkers, politicians, crusaders and naysayers in an effort to understand the promise of science and why a political quagmire is stalling a cure.
DECEMBER 2008
Burning in the Sun, Cambria Matlow (Co-Director)
Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander (Director)
Semper Fi Always Faithful, Rachel Libert (Co-Director)
Chicken & Egg Pictures and Working Films dedicated a night to explore how Story Leads to Action. Filmmakers screened excerpts from their works-in-progress and, in conversation with the 92Y audience, talked about their vision for using non-fiction filmmaking to tackle the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Films included: Burning in the Sun, Garbage Dreams, and Semper Fi: Always Faithful
NOVEMBER 2008
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, Lisa F. Jackson (Filmmaker)
Working Films and the Fledgling Fund kicked off our first curated program in an exciting new film series at 92YTribeca, the 92nd Street Y's new arts and entertainment venue in NYC. On Sunday, November 9th, filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson and fellow activists screened The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo.
PAST PROJECTS
