On February 11 & 12, Working Films hosted a great weekend of events for our media campaign Reel Equality. Aimed at defeating the anti-gay NC amendment coming up for a vote this May, the campaign is touring 6 stellar documentary films on LGBT struggles to audiences around the state to inspire viewers — our straight allies, our co-workers, members of our congregations, and those who care about the welfare of our vulnerable youth — to VOTE NO. Being headquartered in Wilmington, NC, we were excited by the high energy and great turn out at one of the first of 100+ events we are hoping to book across the state.

We kicked off the weekend with a fundraising dinner for Protect NC Families, the coalition of groups working hard to defeat the amendment. It was co-hosted by our own executive director Robert West as well as Judson (Jud) H. Gee of JHG Financial Advisors. It was a great evening attended by community leaders and local activists, including our NC House Representative, Susi Hamilton and City Councilman Kevin O’Grady. With Jud’s sponsorship, we were able to raise funds for the effort as well as start a dialogue about how this amendment will harm ALL NC families.

Later that evening at City Stage we screened two of the Reel Equality films, Cynthia Wade’s Freeheld and Out in the Silence by Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer. The Oscar-winning short Freeheld tackles the issue of benefits extension to same-sex partners while the Emmy-winner Out in the Silence profiles the bullying faced by LGBT youth, both big issues when anti-gay constitutional amendments rear their ugly heads. Sunday night, we showed Thomas Allen Harris’ Marriage Equality, a short film which connects the civil rights movement with the gay equality movement, and Gen Silent by Stu Maddux, a film about the struggles LGBT seniors are facing in this current society of discrimination. All of the screenings were well attended and we signed everyone up to join the fight and spread the word about the very real implications this amendment will have if passed. If you’re in North Carolina or another state currently facing LGBT discrimination, go to reelequality.org to find out how to bring these stories to your town.

Working Films, in collaboration with The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, is delighted to announce the first West Coast edition of the Good Pitch, hosted by the SOCAP10 conference at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on October 3, 2010 12:00pm – 6:00pm.

The Social Capital Markets Conference (SOCAP) is the world’s premiere social capital markets event. The conference highlights the growing field of social capital: people investing to create social change. SOCAP10’s goal is to make connections, to generate partnerships and to increase the acceleration of capital to social good. SOCAP10 brings together a unique mix of the world’s top social innovators – investors, entrepreneurs, donors and other thought-leaders – who are catalysts of change across the globe.

With SOCAP10 and Good Pitch acting as both leaders and connectors in the thinking around impact and investment, establishing a formal relationship between the two initiatives capitalizes on the major strengths of both events.

Eight fantastic projects have been selected for the Good Pitch at SOCAP10. These include three Good Pitch alumni, presented as case studies outlining what they have achieved since their first Good Pitch and pitching new project goals.

The impressive lineup comprises the following filmmakers:

Barefoot Revolution
Dir. Jehane Noujaim
Noujaim Films presents Barefoot Revolution , an intimate cinema verite film which follows the life-changing journey of six women from rural villages in Africa, the Middle East and South America to Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College in India where they will become solar engineers and return to install solar energy in their own and surrounding villages.

Inocente
Dirs. Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine
In America today, one in fifty kids is homeless. For most of us, they are invisible. The documentary feature Inocente delivers a rare glimpse inside the inspirational life of a homeless, undocumented fifteen-year-old artist in San Diego and the extraordinary challenges she must contend with on a daily basis.

Oil & Water
Dir. Francine Strickwerda & Laurel Spellman Smith
Oil & Water is the story of two boys coming of age in the middle of one of the world’s worst toxic disasters. Hugo fights for the survival of his Amazonian tribe, while David attempts to revolutionize the oil industry. Shot over four years so far, Oil & Water is a shocking and inspiring David & Goliath story.

The Revolutionary Optimists
Dirs. Nicole Newnham & Maren Grainger-Monsen
Children are saving lives in the slums of Calcutta. Using dance and street theater, Amlan Ganguly empowers children to become change agents, transforming their neighborhoods with dramatic results. This film has inspired the multi-platform Map Your World, putting the power of mobile technologies into the hands of kids, enabling them to map, track, and improve health in their own communities.

To Be Heard
Director: Roland Legiardi-Laura & Edwin Martinez
To Be Heard is the story of 3 high-school students who find their way into a dangerous poetry workshop in the South Bronx. It is a film about lives and language on the edge. The associated engagement campaign, Power Poetry, will be the world’s first mobile and online poetry community for youth where creative energies convert social networking into social activism.
The three returning Good Pitch alumni are:

25 to Life
Dir. Michael Brown
William Brawner was infected with HIV before he turned two and kept it a secret for over twenty years. Now he struggles to confront his promiscuous past and embarks on a new phase of life with his pregnant wife, who is HIV Negative. 25 to Life is a startling and critical look at HIV and AIDS in America, through the intimate perspective of a family and community that has been affected by one man’s diagnosis.

Green Shall Overcome
Dir. Megan Gelstein
Green Shall Overcome (working title) follows Van Jones, the controversial environmental activist. Jones has a dream for America: social justice through green jobs. Handpicked by the Obama Administration to help create a new “green” energy policy for the nation, his vision collides with the partisan politics of Washington. Set against the backdrop of hope and possibility that accompanied Obama into the White House, this film will offer a unique, first-hand vantage on the challenges of changing the status quo – even as a special advisor to the president.

Out in the Silence
Dirs. Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer
Out in the Silence is more than a movie; it’s part of the growing movement for justice and equality in rural and small town America. Based on the story of a brutal gay bashing of a 16-year-old boy in the filmmaker’s small Pennsylvania hometown, the OITS community engagement campaign has emerged as a compelling, proactive model for grassroots activism and civic participation, helping to build bridges rather than walls on issues that have divided our communities for far too long.

The Good Pitch North America tour, taking place at the the AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Festival on 16 June 2009, is a partnership between the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute documentary Film Program, generously supported by the Fledgling Fund and us, Working Films.

From over 300 applications, eight filmmaking teams have been selected to pitch their films and outreach campaigns to an invited audience, comprising leading national and international NGOs, foundations, broadcasters, campaigners and media in order to maximize the impact of their social-issue documentary projects. Those already confirmed to attend include: Cinereach, IMPACT Partners, Fledgling Fund, Moveon.org, Katahdin Foundation, Avaaz.org, Amnesty International, ITVS, Tribeca Film Institute, Wide Angle, Indiepix, BAVC Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, POV, Incite Productions, 1% for the Planet, The Impact Arts + Film Fund, Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media and the Phoebe Haas Charitable Trust.

The selected filmmakers are Julia Bacha (Budrus has a Hammer), Robbie Gemmel (Cape Wind: The Fight for the Future of Power in America), Hugo Berkeley (The Exchange), Megan Gelstein (Green Shall Overcome), Stephen T Maing (High Tech, Low Life), Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush (Hungry in America), Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer (Out In The Silence) and Debra Anderson (Split Estate). After a day of pitch training by Robert and Judith, they will present their projects in a live pitching event on June 16th, 2009 in Washington D.C.

Find out more about the remarkable films participating in the Good Pitch at SILVERDOCS.