Chicken & Egg's take on Real Girls, Reel Change: Day 1

Reposted from Chicken & Egg Picture’s Blog
By Natalie Difford
Wednesday 10/21/2009

The first day of REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE has been long but already Working Films is helping the Chicken & Egg/Fledgling Fund filmmakers recognize how to think, talk about and strategize for their films.

REAL GIRLS REEL CHANGE is an innovative three-day workshop that will nurture the work of non-profit organizations, filmmakers, and funders that are focused on supporting the physical, emotional, and social well being of girls and young women.

Today we have been identifying what “impact” looks like to each film. In doing so we hope to move filmmakers’ expectations away from being able to “change the world” and instead narrow their focus down to some very specific audiences and goals. The idea is to present a model that will make a sustainable movement towards change. One of the main problems with being able to do this was identified today as “the environmental movement has strength in its urgency. How do we get to talk about girls issues, without falling into the historical “bore” of womens’ history, with a sense of urgency and importance?”

Judith Helfand and Anna Lee of Working Films have been leading discussions in this as they believe that it takes more than one great film on a topic to support sustained social change. Working Films understand that real impact takes time and strategic use of many types of resources, and Real Girls, Reel Change was born out of our desire to develop a new format in which we can explore how multiple films that address similar issues can be used collectively and independently to advance the work of organizations working in a particular arena.

Dawn Valadez, co-Director and Producer for Going on 13 here talks about some great ideas she has come up with as a result of today’s sessions.