The Green Lifestyle Film Festival currently accepting submissions!

The Green Lifestyle Film Festival is currently accepting submissions for next year’s festival to be held March 13-15, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The Green Lifestyle Film Festival is a unique festival that “focuses on sustainable life choices”. The deadline for submission is December 31st, 2008. To submit your film or find out more information, … Continued

Call for Entries: Ninth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival!

“The Media That Matters Film Festival…is unlike most in its insistence on community screenings through the world. The stories are humane, emotionally rich and often humorous despite the heavy subject matter.” – The Indypendent Media That Matters is the premier showcase for short films with big messages. Following a New York City Premiere, Awards Ceremony … Continued

Fellowship Opportunity for Creative Professionals

Are you an excellent photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker, artist, or other creative professional? The Open Society Institute (OSI), is seeking professionals from around the world for the Open Society Fellowship who focus on one of the following four areas: National Security and the Open Society; Citizenship, Membership and Marginalization; Strategies and Tools for Advocacy and Citizen … Continued

Think Your Film Can Change the World?

We do. Ingrid Kopp, Director of the US Office of Shooting People and a key staffer at the recent BritDoc Fest, recently wrote an illuminating piece for Movie Scope. She reveals how documentary filmmakers in the UK are discovering new models of funding and distribution through tapping in to the social impact potential of their … Continued

Out of Your Seats and Into the Streets

This week ABCNews.com featured a story on a passionate crop of documentarians touring city-to-city with their films – taking it to the streets and to the right audiences. It’s about niche marketing, identifying strategic partners, taking the film to its most interested audience,’ Robert West of Working Films told ABCNews.com. Read the full article to … Continued

Discovering New Films While on the Road for Working Films

Earlier this month I attended the Community Strategic Training Initiative (CSTI) hosted by the Western States Center in Portland, OR. This three-day seminar featured day-long workshops on everything from dismantling racism to introductions to community organizing. During my time there I met lots of great folks doing amazing work, one of which was Lauren Raheja … Continued

(Film)Making Participatory Culture

Helen De Michiel, co-director of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) recently wrote an interesting piece discussing the changing landscape of independent documentaries and the use of media as a tool for participation, transformation, and social action. She writes about the relationship that filmmakers have with the making of their film and … Continued

Climate Matters Video Contest

What’s better than the opportunity to make a video that sends an inspiring message about climate change to our next president? How about the chance to win a cash prize and your video broadcast on internet and TV channels?1Sky and Brighter Planet are inviting Americans to create powerful video messages that deliver a clear message … Continued

Banished at the Center for Constitutional Rights

The Banished post-broadcast outreach campaign is in full swing! DVDs and event resources are available for community groups, civil rights institutions, and activists. Since its broadcast in February 2008, there has been overwhelming interest in intersecting Banished with on-going activism around reparations, displacement and gentrification. In June a New York-based youth program, Cultural Connections used … Continued

A ‘Good Pitch’ Across the Pond

On July 21, Judith Helfand and I, representing Working Films, headed to the BritDoc Film Fest at Keble College, Oxford, to continue our partnership with the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation, hosts and masterminds of this hippest fest. (In early June, Judith and I ran the Films for Change workshop in London, also hosted … Continued