Reel Engagement

How can filmmakers whose movies touch on similar issues collaborate? How can they not!?! I’m preparing to spend next week in the Bay Area with some amazing and dedicated filmmakers and audience engagement coordinators. We’ll be figuring out where the overlaps in their campaigns lie and how they can cover more ground together than they could alone. The films chosen for this innovative retreat are Cape Wind, Deep Down, Dirty Business, Gas Land, Split Estate, Sun Come Up, and When Two Worlds Collide. These projects are all focusing on the…

Judith Helfand to be honored at the SF Women's Film Festival

Judith Helfand, our co-founder, is getting her due honors all this week – a testament to her passion and commitment and downright brilliance. Honors start at the San Francisco Women’s Film Festival this Wednesday, April 7th, 2010. The night will open with a tribute to Judith featuring A Healthy Baby Girl, Ek Velt: At the End of the World, and excerpts from Blue Vinyl followed by a Q&A. On Thursday, April 8th at noon, Judith will be teaching a master class where she will share storytelling strategies that lead to…

Make the dream of zero-waste a reality! Take action and share the new Garbage Dreams widget.

Would you like to see the United States recycle just as much garbage as they do in Cairo? Then check out this Garbage Dreams widget. You can watch a clip from the award-winning film about the inspiring recycling practices of the Zaballeen in Cairo and sign onto a letter asking President Obama to support policies that will assure 75% of our trash gets recycled by 2015. Most importantly you can use the widget to sign up to host your own screening of the film and create an ever bigger impact…

Garbage Dreams…already big in 2010

2010 is starting off with a bang for the acclaimed documentary Garbage Dreams. Recently short-listed for an Oscar Award, the film will open theatrically in New York City January 6th through the 12th at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street). Director Mai Iskander will appear in person at the 6:30pm shows Wednesday, January 6 – Sunday, January 10. Working Films is also collaborating with ITVS’ Community Cinema Program to bring Garbage Dreams free of charge to over 50 cities across the U.S this month. We’re also…

Garbage Dreams Wins the IDA/Humanitas Award

The IDA/Humanitas Award, a new prize for 2009, went to Mai Iskander’s Garbage Dreams.  The IDA/ Humanitas Award is given to a documentarian whose film strives to unify the human family by exploring the stories of human beings who are different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the wall of ignorance and fear that separates us. As you may know Working Films is directing the Garbage Dreams Tour, a community-based screening campaign aimed at demonstrating the true value of trash and the…

Live from Copenhagen: The Stupid Show

The Age of Stupid hasn’t called it quits now that their film is finished and out in the world. They are broadcasting live from the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen with the aim to make “the most important meeting in human history comprehensible to people without degrees in hot air”. The filmmakers are working in close collaboration with NGOs to distribute the Stupid Show via the internet to a number of audiences and engage a number of global citizens in Copenhagen. You can watch it live on the ageofstupid.net or…

Social Media Special Guest Blog: What’s On Your Plate?

Filmmakers and organizations are coming up with creative ways to incorporate a spectrum of social media into film campaigns, including interactive websites and games, issue-based social networking communities, podcasts and web TV shows. The team at What’s On Your Plate? join us as guest bloggers to share how they’re using gaming to engage young people in the campaign. The What’s On Your Plate? games were designed to engage a broad audience, particularly visitors interested in having fun and exploring more themes of the film. We saw this as an opportunity…

Social Media Special Guest Blog: No Impact Project

Filmmakers and organizations are coming up with creative ways to incorporate a spectrum of social media into film campaigns, including interactive websites and games, issue-based social networking communities, podcasts and web TV shows. Associate Director of the No Impact Project, Stephanie Bleyer, joins us as a guest blogger to share how she’s using a widget as part of the No Impact Project’s campaign. The No Impact Project and the Center for a New American Dream have joined together to help communities simplify the holidays this year. During the two-weeks of…

What's On My Food?

In the film What’s On Your Plate?, Sadie and Safiyah go on a mission to find out where their food comes from. The film follows them visiting local farms and farmer’s markets, talking to food experts and activists, cooking delicious meals, and being aware of the journey their food took to get on their plates. The Pesticide Action Network just launched a free iPhone application that makes it easy to find out what’s on your food. Check it out to see what kind of pesticides are on your plate. Yuck!