SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL Comes Home to Jacksonville

Robert West, Working Films; Tony Hardmon and Rachel Libert, filmmakers; Master Sgt Jerry Ensminger at Cucalorus. On Saturday, November 12, Semper Fi: Always Faithful screened at a “sold out” crowd at our local and hip indie film fest Cucalorus. The next day, Sunday, November 13, Working Films Robert West and filmmakers Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon took Semper Fi back home to Jacksonville, NC and Camp Lejeune for its first non-festival premiere. The film tells the story of retired Marine Jerry Ensminger’s fight for justice on behalf of U.S. soldiers…

Story Leads to Action: What's On Your Plate & Pipe Fire

    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…

Women, War & Peace

On Tuesday, October 11th, Women, War & Peace, a 5-part PBS series, will premiere at 10pm (in New York City, but please check your local listings.) The series continues every Tuesday night ending on November 8th with a final overview hour written and produced by Peter Bull (of Dirty Business), titled War Redefined. Watch the clip below: Watch the full episode. See more Women War and Peace. In the second week, October 18th, the series will spotlight Pray the Devil Back to Hell which features Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leyman…

Reel Change in the Bay Area

Working Films and The Fledgling Fund in partnership with the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) just wrapped our second Reel Change: Managing Social Issue Film Campaigns workshop in San Francisco. Launched in New York City last December, this series of trainings is open to the field and intended to give individuals the skills to lead creative engagement campaigns for social issue documentary films and related media projects. We brought together a stellar group of filmmakers, community organizers, and experts in the field of audience engagement. Led by Molly Murphy and…

Working Films celebrates An American Promise and Semper Fi at Cucalorus

On Saturday, November 12, Working Films is hosting a celebration of two films that are part of the line up in the hip local indie film fest Cucalorus. Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon’s SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL is an award-winning film that tells a story of particular urgency for NC. Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger devoted 25 years of service to the U.S. Marines, whose motto, “Semper Fidelis,” means “Always Faithful.” When stationed at Camp Lejeune, his 9-year-old daughter died from a rare form of leukemia and Ensminger wants to know…

Reimagining the Region: Building a New Detroit Metropolis

“This was about keeping hope alive – the past is not who we are.” “This event allowed us to see successful strategies (from other cities) that can translate to our own community.” “I feel confident our community can change and make strength in diversity a reality.” These were just a few out of 180 positive comments from over 200+ audience members at the Reimagining the Region: Building a New Detroit Metropolis forum, centered around Andrea Torrice’s documentary series The New Metropolis, hosted at the Emagine Royal Oak Theater on September…

Working Films goes to the Emmys (vicariously!)

We’d like to congratulate the teams behind Gasland, Good Fortune and Freedom Riders on their Emmy Awards! Good Fortune co-director Jeremy Levine was a former Working Films fellow. Josh Fox of Gasland is a part of our Reel Power initiative. Many other film projects we’ve worked with or that participated in our residencies were also nominated: Monica & David (Ali Codina), Off and Running (Nicole Opper), Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy (Stephanie Wang-Breal), Deep Down (Jen Gilomen & Sally Rubin), and A Village Called Versailles (S. Leo Chiang).…

Reimagining the Region: Building a New Metropolis

“Detroit has been deteriorating for over 40 years because of disinvestment,” said Ponsella Hardaway, Executive Director of Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), one of the sponsors of “Reimagining the Region: Building a New Metropolis”. A screening of The New Metropolis and a community dialogue about the film and its relevance to the region will take place at the Emagine Royal Oak Theater on Thursday, Sept. 15 from 7 – 9 p.m. A light dinner precedes the event at 6:00. The forum is free and open to the public. The…

Upcoming Opportunities for Filmmakers

Tribeca Film Institute has opened submissions for four of their programs: TFI Documentary Fund, TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund, Tribeca All Access and TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund. Beyond providing grants for non-fiction, narrative and new media filmmakers, these programs also include year-round support like resources and industry connections for the grantees who will participate in events during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. For more information, visit their website. The deadline is October 10th, 2011. Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is now accepting submissions. The festival will…

konsonant/ Sounding Together Initiative (STi) Fellowship Winners

Earlier this year, we posted an opportunity for the konsonant/ Sounding Together Initiative (STi) Fellowship. The fellowship gives free music licenses to independent filmmakers working on socially conscious films. The recipients were announced last month and we are excited to hear that two of the winning filmmakers found out about this opportunity from Working Films! Check out the video below to see the selected film projects. The 2011 konsonant Fellowship Winners 1st Prize: Singers in the Band by David Goodman 2nd Prize: Unlikely Friends by Leslie Neale 3rd Prize: La Toma…