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…
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…
“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…
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).…
Over the past few months, four students from Isaac Bear Early College High School have been working on a 20 minute documentary addressing climate change and the impact is has to our coastal community in Wilmington, NC. Their film We Sea Change: A Student Perspective on Climate and a Changing World will premiere at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher on Wednesday, September 28th 2011 at 6:30pm. A panel discussion will follow the screening and organizations from around the region will host educational booths for audience members. Cape Fear…
“The generation that fought hardest to come out is going back in to survive” Gen Silent is a critically-acclaimed documentary from filmmaker Stu Maddux that explores the challenges of six LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi, trans) seniors who face the difficult choice of hiding their friends, their spouses and their entire lives in order to survive in the health care system. For Family Fest 2011 the Frank Harr Foundation will open the event with a meet & greet reception for Gen Silent director, Stu Maddux, on Thursday, September 29, 2011, at…
“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…
When I was in Detroit over the summer for the Allied Media Conference, I attended a workshop presented by Evan Casper-Futterman, Co-Producer of the film Land of Opportunity. He explained how the film is using Mozilla Foundation’s WebMadeMovies initiative to create an interactive web campaign. Afterwards, I caught up with Evan to find out a bit more about how the interactive videos work and supplement the film. Here’s what he had to say: A key component of the Land of Opportunity documentary project is the production and distribution of interactive…
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…
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…
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