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Lindy Lou, a woman from rural Mississippi, always thought she could easily give the death penalty. Then she sat on a jury that handed down a capital punishment sentence to a man convicted in a double homicide. Twenty years later, in the new documentary film Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2, Lindy travels through Mississippi and interviews 11 jurors alongside whom she sentenced a man to death. This film challenges the sense that many Missourians have - that the death penalty is an abstract, distant concept unlikely to personally affect us. “Every citizen in Missouri faces the possibility of participating on a capital jury, and it is a part of civic education to understand the full ramifications of this process. Every death sentence has a lasting human cost and impacts every individual in its proximity, including jurors. Like Lindy, many of us as citizens may be called to fulfill our jury duty. We each have another duty beyond this one - a duty to consider the realities of handing down a death sentence both for ourselves and for our communities,”  said Staci Pratt, Executive Director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, one of the organizations coordinating this screening tour. Check out the full line up of free screenings happening in Missouri below. Each screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with local experts. Lindy Lou will join audiences at some of the screenings to share more of her story.  The showings are presented by Good Pitch Local, a project devised by Doc Society, in partnership with Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP), Equal Justice USA, Working Films, and local organizations throughout the state. Thursday August 31st at 7pm - Jefferson City Capitol City Cinema 126 E High St. Jefferson City, MO 65101 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA. Wednesday September 6th at 7pm - Kansas City Screenland Armour Theatre 408 Armour Rd. North Kansas City, MO 64116 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA. Thursday September 7th at 7pm - St. Louis The Tivoli Theatre, Auditorium No. 3 6350 Delmar Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63130 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, CURE, Preachers And Community (PAC), Second Chance Freedom Foundation, St. Louis Social Justice Committee of the General Baptist State Convention, WILPF, World Community Center, and Veterans for Peace - St. Louis chapter. Tuesday September 12th at 6:30pm (reception at 6pm) - St. Joseph Missouri Western State University Kemper Recital Hall/Spratt 101 4525 Downs Dr. St. Joseph, MO 64507 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, and Legal Studies Association of Missouri Western State University. Wednesday September 13th at 7pm - Kansas City Park Hill High School 7701 NW Barry Rd Kansas City, MO 64153 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA. Thursday September 14th at 3pm - Parkville Park University 8700 Northwest River Park Dr, Parkville, MO 64152 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, and Park University.  Thursday September 14th at 7pm - Platte City Shiloh Springs Golf Course 14750 Fairway Ln. Platte City, MO 64079 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA. Friday September 15th at 7pm - Platte Woods Platte Woods United Methodist Church 7310 NW Prairie View Rd. Platte Woods, MO 64151 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, and Platte Woods UMC. Tuesday September 19th at 6:30pm - Kansas City Boardwalk Branch of Mid-Continent Public Library 8656 N Ambassador Dr. Kansas City, MO 64154 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA. Tuesday September 19th at 7pm - Springfield Moxie Cinema 305 S Campbell Ave #101 Springfield, MO 65806 Hosted by: Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Equal Justice USA.  

Check out the full schedule of film screenings being held in Brunswick, Portland, Boothbay Harbor, Belfast and Stonington below. Each screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with local experts and individuals affected. All screenings are free and open to the public. Wednesday August 23rd at 6:30pm - Portland Portland Public Library 5 Monument Square Portland, ME 04101 Hosted by: Coastal Enterprises Inc., Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, The Nature Conservancy, and Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative. Friday August 25th at 8pm - Boothbay Harbor Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library 4 Oak Street Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538 Hosted by: Down to Earth Storytelling Project. Wednesday September 6th at 7pm - Stonington The Stonington Opera House 1 Opera House Ln. Stonington, ME 04681 Hosted by: The Stonington Opera House and Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries.

We're thrilled to announce five extraordinary new members who have joined the ranks of Working Films' Board of Directors! CATY BORUM CHATOO Caty Borum Chattoo is Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), an innovation lab and research center at American University that creates, showcases, and studies media designed for social change; and Executive in Residence at the American University School of Communication in Washington, D.C. She is an award-winning communication strategist and documentary film/TV producer working at the intersection of social-change communication, research, documentary, and entertainment storytelling. Borum Chattoo’s social-change storytelling, strategy, and research work has been featured in USA Today, NPR, Businessweek, The Huffington Post, and PBS MediaShift, and her social justice documentaries have aired internationally and nationally on Netflix, the Sundance Channel, Pivot, NDTV (India), PBS World, Link TV, KCET, DirectTV and theatrically. She has produced two documentary feature films (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and The After Party), a TV documentary and transmedia series (Stand Up Planet, starring Hasan Minhaj from “The Daily Show”), a multi-part documentary TV series focused on global poverty (ViewChange), a seven-part environmental justice documentary TV series (Sierra Club Chronicles), and PSA campaigns designed for social change on issues ranging from global poverty to climate change to HIV. At CMSI, her current research, creative and strategy work focuses on audience effects of documentary storytelling, nonfiction industry race and gender diversity, audience effects of entertainment storytelling across platforms, and the role of comedy in social justice. Previously, she was senior vice president in the social marketing practice group at FleishmanHillard International Communications in Washington, D.C., focused on social-change programs. In Los Angeles, she was a longtime collaborator with legendary TV producer and philanthropist/activist Norman Lear as a founding director of Declare Yourself, a national youth civic engagement organization; and special projects director & senior producer at the USC Norman Lear Center, a research and public policy center that examines the social impact of entertainment on society. She also served as the program officer in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Entertainment Media & Public Health program; project director at the Center for Media Education; and fellow in civic journalism at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Borum Chattoo holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania (The Annenberg School for Communication), and a B.A. in Communication Studies (summa cum laude, In Honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from Virginia Tech. FELIX ENDARA Born in Ecuador, Felix Endara is a transgender New York-based independent filmmaker, programmer, and arts administrator whose films have screened at festivals including Berlin, Frameline, Outfest, NewFest, DOC NYC, and Mill Valley. From 2008 to 2012, he programmed Arts Engine’s documentary screening series DocuClub, which he toured to Mexico City and Silver Spring, Maryland. In 2010, he was a fellow at the IFP Documentary Finishing Lab (2010) as producer for Wildness (2012, Dir: Wu Tsang), which follows the trajectory of a gay male bar in Los Angeles as its transforms into a refuge for immigrant Latina transgender women. It premiered at MoMa’s Documentary Fortnight series in February 2012, was an official selection at SXSW, and screened at the Whitney Biennial later that year. He also produced Article of Faith (2011, Dir: Christina Antonakos-Wallace), which received the “Changemaker Award” at the Media That Matters film festival in 2011. The short portrays anti-bullying Sikh activist Sonny Singh and his fight to ban discrimination in New York City schools. In addition, he participated in Working Films/Fledgling Fund’s first Reel Engagement workshop (July 2010), focusing on outreach and audience engagement; and in documentary trainings at Dok-Leipzig’s Co-Production Meetings (October 2011), in Germany; and Amsterdam’s IDFA Academy (November 2011). He has been a reviewer for P.O.V., Tribeca All Access, NewFest, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and the New York Asian American International Film Festival; and an advisor for Cinereach Reach Fellows. In 2013, he served as a jury member of the New Orleans Film Festival. Felix has a long and consistent track record of producing innovative, thought-provoking media of consequence that has screened at prestigious film festivals around the world. Topics he has covered have ranged from the preservation and celebration of LGBT historical spaces to character portraits of activists who rise up to the challenges of fighting prejudice and violence. In addition, his work as an independent programmer and arts administrator draws on his values to champion art that functions as a catalyst for social change. Grit & Grind, his most recent short documentary, tells the story of the Clit Club, an edgy lesbian club set in New York’s Meatpacking District in the 1990s, as the city struggled with the AIDS epidemic. The film had its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2014. WILL JENKINS Will Jenkins has more than a decade of communications and policy experience at the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services, Congress, and international nonprofit organizations. Over the years, he has also worked with many filmmakers and media producers on stories that engage policy issues. During his time in the federal government, Will served as a spokesperson to local, national, and foreign news outlets on a wide range of issues, including criminal justice reform, drug policy, immigration, public health and education. At the White House, he worked with filmmakers to plan interviews and events with the President and senior officials for documentaries airing on PBS/Frontline, MTV, Showtime, and other outlets. He has planned high profile events and policy rollouts featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA TODAY and The Washington Post and managed appearances for government officials on Meet the Press, Morning Joe, 60 Minutes and The Colbert Report. As a legislative aide in Congress, he guided from introduction to enactment the first legislation to protect American military members from the health effects of toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has been called this generation's Agent Orange. As part of his work with media producers, he was Policy Director for the Impact Film Festival at the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, where he coordinated screening discussions with politicians, filmmakers, celebrities and reporters. In 2013, he developed the American Film Institute's first Political Bootcamp for Filmmakers. He has spoken about film and policymaking at South by Southwest, the Tribeca Film Festival, Good Pitch, and the International Documentary Association. He is co-author of a report series on films and policymaking published through American University in 2017. PETER MILLER Peter Miller's award-winning documentaries include the theatrically-released AKA Doc Pomus (about the legendary songwriter), Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (narrated by Dustin Hoffman), and Sacco and Vanzetti (winner of the American Historical Association's best film award). With Carlos Sandoval, he directed and produced A Class Apart (PBS American Experience, Imagen Award). His musical film The Internationale was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination. His documentary Projections of America, about a little-known American WWII propaganda film unit, premiered on PBS stations in the fall of 2016. With Renée Silverman, he produced, directed and shot Sosua: Make a Better World (shown on PBS stations nationwide) and Refugee Kids: One Small School Takes On the World. He most recently co-directed Robert Shaw: Man of Many Voices, about the celebrated conductor, and is currently collaborating with filmmakers Peggy Stern and Justin Schein on a new film about the Palliative Care movement in medicine. MALAIKA MOSE Malaika (Paquiot) Mose splits her times between her two loves: film and tech. To this end, she is a Digital Strategist with ARRAY, formerly known as African American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM), founded by the director of the Oscar-nominated film Selma: Ava DuVernay. Malaika has led a group of 60 volunteers in the digital promotion of 13 out of ARRAY's 14 releases and will be working on their 15th acquisition: Namour. Vice-President of Product Management at a Wilmington, NC-based cloud banking startup, she has been in the software industry for 14 years during which time she has won the National Women of Color Technology Award. She merges the tech and film worlds by writing about online film distribution and crowdfunding and has done so for Focal Press' Mastering Film blog, Filmmaker Magazine's blog and her own blog Beyond the Box Office. Up since 2009, it focuses on innovative ways for filmmakers to distribute their films, including set-top boxes, streaming services and mobile apps. An authority on online film distribution, Malaika has been invited to cover industry events like National Association of Broadcasters, and has covered events like NewTeeVee Live, The Conversation, IFP and Power to the Pixel’s CrossMedia Forum NYC, DIY Days, and SXSW. When last she checked, she was listed 84 times on Twitter in such categories as filmmaking, film-video, IPTV, new movie distribution and her personal favorite: Awesomocity. She is currently a member of the Sundance Institute and a former board member of the San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild. Having gotten to know Working Films co-founder Robert West briefly in the year before his cancer diagnosis, it is her great honor to lend her skills to advancing the mission of the organization through membership on the board.

The term gerrymander was coined in 1812, when a Massachusetts district was drastically redrawn in a way that resembled a salamander. Governor Elbridge Gerry manipulated the district lines to give his party an unfair advantage. Hence, the term gerry-mander. North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation. The voting districts look more like paint splatters or perhaps a salamander after a visit to Chernobyl. According to the New York Times 2016 election results, 47% of North Carolina voters cast ballots for democratic representatives, yet the Democrats only received 3 of the states 13 seats. A federal court determined that North Carolina's intent with the last redistricting process in 2011 wasn't to eliminate voter fraud, but instead to stop Black people from voting. The judges described that the process was designed to "target African Americans with almost surgical precision."   To shine a light on this disenfranchisement and the role and impact of money in politics in creating it, we teamed up with Appalachian Voices, Democracy NC, the North Carolina NAACP and allies to bring the new documentary Democracy for Sale to towns and cities across North Carolina. Part of the EPIX America Divided series, the film features NC native Zach Galifianakis as he uncovers the role that money has played in the state's politics and the devastating effects it’s having on democracy. On the heels of the 2016 election, the goals of the tour were to keep up civic interest and bring newly energized people into state and local campaigns to protect voting rights and intersectional social and environmental justice. "We want this event to allow our members to stay involved and realize this is an every day/all year movement, not just something to do around elections.” said Joanna Woodson of the Student Democracy Coalition before the screening in Cullowhee. Echoing this, Karen Bearden of 350 Triangle in Raleigh, explained: “because of everything going on right now, interest is high. There’s so many new people who've never attended something like this before, and these new people are critical to the movement.” The events were also used to recruit and mobilize people for the 2017 Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) Moral March on Raleigh and a lobby day on gerrymandering organized by Common Cause and Democracy North Carolina. The HKonJ People’s Assembly Coalition is made up of the more than 125 North Carolina NAACP branches, youth councils, and college chapters from across the state and members of over 200 other social justice organizations in North Carolina. Robin Ellis of the Yancey Mitchell NAACP, host of the Bakersville screening said, “We want to get info out about HKonJ, it’s exciting that we’re getting info out to local people. A lot of people who don't normally participate in anything related to the NAACP are coming to the film.” Over the course of two months, we hosted 30 screenings  throughout the state. This included large cities like Raleigh and Charlotte, but the majority of screenings took place in small, rural towns like Bakersville and Washington (population 455 - 9,789). With record turnouts, and several venues reaching full capacity a full hour before show time (check out the video below from Asheville), the tour reached thousands of residents. Each screening was  followed by a discussion with local and statewide leaders who answered questions from the audience and gave them opportunities to get and stay involved.   [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://workingfilms.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BIG-thanks-to-the-Asheville-community...-The-Southern-Alliance-for-Clean-Energy.mp4" autoplay="true"][/video] According to Mike Schachter of the Craven County NAACP in New Bern, “our event was a success, we wanted to get new people interested in activism and to get more people to commit to going to the [HKonJ] Moral March on Raleigh. People purchased tickets to get on the bus for the March and many signed up to receive more information and follow up actions.” “For many people, this event was an important jumping off point for the recent uptick in political activism now happening in our community," said Emily Ford, a concerned resident in Salisbury who decided to host a showing. Several state Senators attended screenings and provided an insider’s view to audiences of the experience inside the legislature and the best ways to engage elected officials. [caption id="attachment_5036" align="alignleft" width="364"] Top: Senator Mike Woodard speaks to the Durham audience. Bottom: Senator Terry Van Duyn speaks to the Asheville audience.[/caption] We hosted a finale of the tour in Zach Galifianakis’ hometown, Wilkesboro. One of the reddest districts in the state, a packed audience of more than 500 people demonstrated that the issues raised are of concern to a wide cross section, regardless of party affiliation. Zach joined filmmaker Lucian Read; Gene Nichol, who directed the defunded UNC-Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity; and residents featured in the film, Tracey Edwards and Tracy Deyton.   [caption id="attachment_5049" align="alignright" width="537"] Zach Galifianakis speaks with the audience, alongside Gene Nichol, Tracey Deyton, Lucian Read, and Tracey Edwards[/caption] A rich and lively discussion followed the screening with self-proclaimed democrat and republican audience members expressing their disbelief and outrage that money in politics and gerrymandering are hijacking North Carolina’s democracy. More photos from this event, captured by Appalachian Voices, can be found here. The Democracy for Sale tour that Working Films has coordinated in the last few months has inspired dozens of grassroots groups, churches and community members to self-organize their own screenings. As of this post, there have been 68 screenings throughout North Carolina with more being planned each day. Interest in other films in the Epix America Divided series has led to 91 screenings in total in 2017. We are thrilled by this ripple effect. We'll be bringing Democracy For Sale and other documentaries in the America Divided series to more states throughout the South this summer and fall. Stay tuned for updates!    

North Carolina - once a beacon of light and generosity in a sea of red state reactionary politics - is now one of the most regressive and intentionally belligerent states in the union. The new documentary Democracy for Sale featuring NC native Zach Galifianakis uncovers the role that money has played in this shift and offers a lesson for the rest of the nation. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Appalachian Voices, Democracy NC, The NC NAACP, and many others to organize more than a dozen screenings across North Carolina to inform and mobilize residents to demand campaign finance reform, environmental protection, and an end to racist gerrymandering. Democracy For Sale is part of the EPIX original documentary series “America Divided” Executive Produced by Common, Norman Lear and Shonda Rhimes. The five-part series features narratives of inequality in education, housing, health care, labor, criminal justice and the political system. Created by Divided Films with support from WK Kellogg Foundation, Just Films Ford Foundation, The JPB Foundation, and Open Society Foundations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9DYdm-Dw3o Check out the schedule of dates and cities below.  No tickets needed, seating will be given on a first come first serve basis.  Monday January 23rd at 7pm - Cullowhee A K Hinds University Center - WCU Room 210, Memorial Dr. Cullowhee, NC 28723 Hosted by: Student Democracy Coalition. Tuesday January 24th at 7pm - Walnut Cove Rising Star 915 Windmill St. Walnut Cove, NC 27052 Hosted by: Appalachian Voices. Tuesday January 24th at 7pm - Greensboro (first screening) Geeksboro Coffee & Beverage Company 2134 Lawndale Dr. Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 Hosted by: Mixed Tape Foundation, R.I.S.E., and GRAWL. Wednesday January 25th at 7pm - Asheville (first screening) The Grail Moviehouse 45 S French Broad Ave. Asheville, NC 28801 Hosted by: Buncombe County NAACP, Clean Water for NC, Democracy NC, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Southern Environmental Law Center. Thursday January 26th at 7pm - Asheville (second screening) Ferguson Auditorium at AB Tech 340 Victoria Rd. Asheville NC 28801 Hosted by: Buncombe County NAACP, Clean Water for NC, Democracy NC, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Southern Environmental Law Center. Thursday January 26th at 7pm - Bakersville The Old Courthouse 11 N Mitchell Ave. Bakersville, NC 28705 Hosted by: Yancey Mitchell NAACP. Saturday January 28th at 8pm (doors open at 7pm) - Saxapahaw Haw River Ballroom 1711 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Rd. Saxapahaw, NC 27340 Hosted by: Appalachian Voices, Haw River Ballroom and Working Films. Sunday January 29th at 3pm - Shelby Newgrass Brewing 213 S Lafayette St. Shelby, NC 28150 Hosted by: MountainTrue, and Broad River Alliance. Monday January 30th at 7pm - Morganton Brown Mountain Bottleworks 115 E Union St. Morganton, NC 28655 Hosted by: Citizen:Earth Media, and North Carolina Association of Educators. Tuesday January 31st at 7pm - Fayetteville Cameo Art House Theatre 225 Hay St. Fayetteville, NC 28301 Hosted by: The Fayetteville Branch NAACP and Fayetteville NOW. Tuesday January 31st at 7pm - Salisbury The Norvell Theatre 135 E Fisher St. Salisbury, NC 28144 Hosted by: Yadkin Riverkeeper. Wednesday February 1st at 7pm - Wilmington (first screening) The Cameron Art Museum 3201 S 17th St. Wilmington, NC 28412 Hosted by: Democracy NC, and New Hanover County NAACP. Wednesday February 1st at 6:30pm - Charlotte UNCC (first screening) UNCC Student Union Theater 9201 University City Blvd. Charlotte NC 28223 Hosted by: Customer49. Thursday February 2nd at 7pm - Durham Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship - Fellowship Hall 4907 Garrett Rd. Durham, NC 27707 Hosted by: The Durham People's Alliance, and NC WARN. Friday February 3rd at 7pm - Chapel Hill Church of Reconciliation 110 N Elliott Rd. Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Hosted by: Southern Environmental Law Center, Church of Reconciliation Justice and Peace Committee, and Raging Grannies. Saturday February 4th at 1pm - Greenville CM Eppes Recreation Center 400 Nash St. Greenville, NC 27834 Hosted by: Coalition Against Racism, Democracy NC, and Pitt County NAACP. Monday February 6th at 7pm - Boone Price Lake Room at ASU 287 Rivers St. Boone, NC 28608 Hosted by: Appalachian Voices, Democracy Matters, and Democracy NC. Monday February 6th at 6pm - Winston Salem Green Street United Methodist Church 639 S. Green Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Hosted by: Democracy NC, NC Council of Churches, NC WARN, and R.I.S.E. Together Piedmont Triad. Tuesday February 7th at 7pm - Raleigh (first screening) Community UCC 814 Dixie Trail Raleigh, NC 27607 Hosted by: 350 Triangle, and the CUCC Social Justice Committee. Tuesday February 7th at 7pm - Goldsboro Saint Mark Church of Christ 700 W Ash St. Goldsboro, NC 27530 Hosted by: Down East Coal Ash Coalition and Wayne County NAACP. Tuesday February 7th at 6pm - New Bern UU Fellowship of New Bern 308 Meadows St. New Bern, NC 28560 Hosted by: Craven County NAACP and Democracy New Bern. Tuesday February 7th at 7pm - Tryon Tryon Theatre 45 S Trade St. Tryon, NC 28782 Hosted by: Indivisible Foothills Carolina. Tuesday February 7th at 7:30pm - Asheboro Auditorium at R. Alton Cox Learning Resources Center Randolph Community College 629 Industrial Park Avenue Asheboro, NC 27205 Hosted by: Randolph County NAACP. Wednesday February 8th at 7pm - Raleigh (second screening) Hunt Library at NCSU 1070 Partners Way Raleigh, NC 27606 Hosted by: Public Schools First, and NCSU Libraries. Thursday February 9th at 6pm - Charlotte CPCC (second screening) Overcash Building, 2nd Floor 1206 Elizabeth Ave.  Charlotte, NC 28204 Hosted by: Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Clean Air Carolina, and Greenpeace. Thursday February 9th at 7pm - Greensboro (second screening) NC A&T General Classroom Building Rm. 218 601 N Benbow Rd. Greensboro, NC 27405 Hosted by: ONWARD, The Multicultural Student Center at NC A&T University, and Beloved Community Center. Thursday February 9th at 7pm - Wilmington (second screening)  Union Station at CFCC 502 N Front St. (entrance at corner of Front & Red Cross). Wilmington NC, 28401. Hosted by: New Hanover County NAACP, and CFCC Feminist Alliance. Thursday February 9th at 8pm - Elon Turner Theatre Schar Hall, School of Communications 123 Williamson Avenue Elon, NC 27244 Hosted by: The Elon chapter of the NC Student Legislature. Wednesday February 22nd at 7pm - Roxboro Kirby Cultural Arts Complex 213 N. Main St. Roxboro, NC 27573 Hosted by: You Can Vote and People's Alliance. If your city isn't on the list and you'd like to bring Democracy for Sale to your town, contact Andy at [email protected].      

7 documentaries selected to screen at Facing Race 2016

  Race Forward has teamed up with Working Films to present Race Flicks, the film track of Facing Race: A National Conference being held in Atlanta, GA from November 10-12, 2016. This year’s Race Flicks program will focus on creating impact with film. And the selected films were choosen in large part because of the way they have been or could be used strategically by activists, organizers, and nonprofits to advance their work for racial justice. Dozens of filmmakers applied for the opportunity to screen their film at Facing Race. Seven were selected. These include: America Divided: The Class Divide by Richard Rowley, Rebecca Teitel and Jesse Williams Actor and former teacher Jesse Williams journeys to St. Petersburg, Florida, notorious for being the unlikely epicenter of the student achievement gap and school-to-prison pipeline. Williams investigates how resegregation has led to a massive educational and criminal justice divide for the students — and witnesses the community’s efforts to confront the school system and close the gap. “The Class Divide” is a segment of the new EPIX original docs-series America Divided, created by Solly Granatstein, Lucian Read and Richard Rowley and executive produced by Norman Lear, Shonda Rhimes and Common, which follows actors and activists as they explore stories of inequality in education, housing, the environment, immigration, health, labor, criminal justice, and the political system.   Breathin': the Eddy Zheng Story by Ben Whang Arrested at 16 and tried as an adult for kidnapping and robbery, Eddy Zheng served over 20 years in California prisons and jails. Ben Wang’s BREATHIN’: THE EDDY ZHENG STORY paints an intimate portrait of Eddy—the prisoner, the immigrant, the son, the activist—on his journey to freedom, rehabilitation and redemption. BREATHIN' won the 2016 CAAMFest Audience Award for Documentary Feature.   The Conversation: A series of short films about race in America by Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster, Blair Foster, Geeta Gandbhir, Perri Peltz When it comes to race relations in America, there has been no shortage of rhetoric, rage and accusations, but too few attempts have been made to elevate the conversation beyond superficial remarks. Comprised of seven shorts, The Conversation Series avoids a single narrative, with each piece exploring a different facet of societal perceptions that provide honest and surprising insight into the reality of our social systems.   First Light by Adam Mazo & Ben Pender-Cudlip First Light documents the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first such task force in US history to investigate issues important to Native Americans. The Commission was dedicated to uncovering and acknowledging the truth about what happened to Wabanaki children and families involved with the state's child welfare system. The commission is one of the first in the world to examine issues of Native child welfare.   Last Day of Freedom by Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime he agonizes over his decision- should he call the police? Last Day of Freedom, a richly animated personal narrative, tells the story of Bill’s decision to stand by his brother in the face of war, crime and capital punishment. The film is a portrait of a man at the nexus of the most pressing social issues of our day – veterans’ care, mental health access and criminal justice   Olympic Pride, American Prejudice by Deborah Riley Draper Olympic Pride, American Prejudice explores the experiences of 18 African American Olympians who defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to win hearts and medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The althetes represented a country that considered them second class citizens and competed in a country that rolled out the red carpet in spite of an undercurrent of Aryan superiority and anti-Semitism. Utilizing the wealth of newsreel material, newspaper articles, photographs, personal interviews and never-before-seen footage the film story shares a vital part of history and is as relevant today as it was almost 80 years ago.   Ovarian Psycos by Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle Riding at night through streets deemed dangerous in Eastside Los Angeles, the Ovarian Psycos use their bicycles to confront the violence in their lives. At the helm of the crew is founder Xela de la X, a single mother and poet M.C. dedicated to recruiting an unapologetic, misfit crew of women of color. The film intimately chronicles Xela as she struggles to strike a balance between her activism and nine year old daughter Yoli; street artist Andi who is estranged from her family and journeys to become a leader within the crew; and bright eyed recruit Evie, who despite poverty, and the concerns of her protective Salvadoran mother, discovers a newfound confidence.    The Facing Race and Working Films team will work with selected filmmakers to create dynamic programming for each film. This will include participation by select filmmakers and characters featured in the documentaries, curated post screening conversations with activists and organizations, and opportunities for audiences to learn how take films back to their communities and use them to incite change.   See the program: https://facingrace.raceforward.org/program/race-flicks

  Community-based organizations across the United States are working to build sustainable local economies, eliminate dependence on dirty energy, and create resilient communities in the face of climate change and economic inequality. The Beloved Community Center is one of them. Based in Greensboro, NC since 1991, the Beloved Community Center is working for a social and economic system that realizes the dignity, worth and potential of every person. This Saturday, we’ll join them at the Peoples Power Party. The gathering will showcase bottom-up solutions to the challenges of environmental racism and pollution. Energized with music and local food, the event will feature workshops, skill shares, and information tables addressing clean energy, coal ash activism, voting rights and registration, DIY energy efficiency, green jobs and economic justice. We'll be hosting a film series at the Peoples Power Party featuring Faith In Solar, Coal Ash Chronicles, Life in The Sacrifice Zone, and The Cooperative Solution. Come watch and talk with the filmmakers and movement makers featured in the stories!  [embed]https://vimeo.com/180222484[/embed] The short video above was produced by Working Films' Campaign Coordinator, Andy Myers. The music is by Cakalak Thunder, a drump corps based in Greensboro.