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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]At its heart, Rural Cinema is about harnessing the power of story to drive change. The program trains environmental justice organizers to use film as a tool to bring people together, spark meaningful conversations, and inspire action on the challenges their communities face. With hands-on training, access to films, and funding to host their own series, participants transform storytelling into tangible, local impact. This year, we’re excited to shine a spotlight on the 2025 Rural Cinema cohort, a remarkable group of organizations from across the country that are reshaping what’s possible in their communities. Check out the upcoming film series created by our partners:  

Amanecer 

Esperanza Film Series (Lower Valley, TX) A new film series is starting in the Lower Valley that will give the community an opportunity to get involved. The series will allow us to show you that there is hope in our community and we can make a change, giving our students a better learning environment or giving teachers better working conditions is our goal. Films will consist of inspiring stories involving organizing in communities just like ours.    

 

CEER (Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience)

The Power of Our Region Tour (TX Gulf Coast) This tour will serve as an opportunity for the Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER) to host community film events as part of the Regional Resilience Campaign Texas Gulf Coast in Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Jefferson, and Liberty Counties. We will amplify our partners in each regional county and share how to get involved in local/regional environmental, climate, resilience, and disaster recovery work.

Clarke Street Fund & Freedom Farm Azul

The Revolution from North to South  (Prattville, AL) The Revolution from North to South film series aims to amplify land-based resistance movements across the Americas through a curated collection of films that illuminate Indigenous and Black agrarian histories, land return efforts, and community-rooted food systems. This series offers a cinematic pathway to explore sovereignty, healing, and resistance as expressed through agriculture and land-based storytelling. We believe storytelling is a tool for transformation. In a time marked by climate crisis, food insecurity, and systemic land dispossession, Revolution from North to South offers stories of land-based resilience as blueprints for action. This series honors ancestral knowledge, centers frontline communities, and invites viewers to reflect on their relationship to land, justice, and food.  

Jubilee House Community + ACROSS

The Ground We Share (Parrish & Camp Hill, AL) From the sharecropper soil of Camp Hill to the coal-stained hills of Parrish, our communities are rooted in stories of struggle, strength, and survival. The Ground We Share is more than a film series, it’s a space to come together, break bread, share stories, and dream of something better. Through powerful films about environmental justice, family-friendly movies, and real conversations we’ll gather across lines of race, place, and history to imagine a different future for our communities together. Join neighbors from Walker and Tallapoosa Counties for evenings of film, food, and honest conversation about what it means to care for the places we call home  

Georgia WAND

Ecoflix, Cinema & Conversation  (Atlanta, GA) This film series uses film as a tool to spark dialogue, build awareness, and empower underserved rural communities in Burke and Richmond Counties around environmental and energy justice, so that they may act as catalysts for change in the places they call home.        

New Mexico Conservation Alliance

Voices of the Basin  (New Mexico, NM)

The Voices of the Basin Rural Cinema Series by the New Mexico Conservation Alliance harnesses the power of film to ignite dialogue, inspire stewardship, and mobilize community action around environmental and water issues in Ruidoso and surrounding rural communities. Through screenings and post-film conversations, we spotlight stories of resilience, challenge dominant narratives, and elevate local voices—especially youth—as champions for a just and sustainable future.   About Rural Cinema Rural Cinema is a training institute and community engagement program aimed at supporting leaders from rural areas and small towns across the United States in using film screenings as a resource in their work for environmental justice and protection. [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="14979" img_size="full" css=""][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]For a documentary film to make a difference, a solid strategy for audience engagement and strong partnerships are key. Filmmakers often lack time to do this work themselves or the expertise and resources to make an impact campaign happen. Emerging filmmakers and underrepresented filmmakers can face the biggest hurdles, despite the immense potential of their projects. Working Films’ response to this challenge is the Impact Kickstart, a program offering partnership and strategy development support to underrepresented filmmakers with feature-length films that hold great promise to catalyze action to address critical and current social issues. Now in its eight year, we invite nonfiction filmmakers to apply to Impact Kickstart. We will select and support a cohort of filmmakers with impact campaign funds in the range of $10,000 - $20,000, with an anticipated announcement in late 2025 and disbursement in early 2026. In addition to funding, awardees will have access to mentorship and impact strategy support from the Working Films team, towards their impact campaign plans. The deadline to apply for Impact Kickstart applications is Friday, October 3, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET. Find more details and apply using Submittable.

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About Impact Kickstart

Impact Kickstart supports underrepresented filmmakers with resources, strategic goals for impact, and specific plans to engage future partners and audiences in meaningful ways. Impact Kickstart was created to fill a gap in support for the impact campaigns of underrepresented filmmakers and stories. Eligibility 

• Film teams applying identify as underrepresented. To understand what Working Films considers underrepresented, please visit our FAQ.
• Funding is only for audience engagement and impact campaigns of feature length documentary films that are recently completed (released within the last 2 years) or finishing (at least fine cut stage) or release phases. The film must be far enough along that we are able to review a fine cut by the application due date: Friday, October 3 2025 at 11:59 pm ET.
• Filmmakers must be prepared to take part in a year-long cohort among selected filmmakers from December 2025 - December 2026, in monthly cohort meetings. The Impact Kickstart cohort will focus on partnership and strategy development, refining impact campaign goals, and peer-to-peer support.
• Films may feature stories from anywhere in the world, but the applicant must be living in the United States and planning an impact campaign to be carried out in the U.S.
• Applicants must be 18 years of age.
• Only one proposal per applicant will be accepted.

  Criteria The selection for Impact Kickstart will based on:

• The catalytic potential of the project to create change that addresses current and important social issues.
• The strength of the film and story.
• The viability of the film’s vision and goals towards its impact.
• The filmmaker’s approach to accountability and ethics.

In all of our work, we prioritize amplifying and increasing support for underrepresented filmmakers, as well as those who work in deep accountability with the individuals and communities featured in their films. We recognize that being accountable includes the work of dismantling the dominant culture and approach within documentary filmmaking and storytelling. As part of Impact Kickstart 2026, we will consider the following as part of our selection process:

• Film projects that address a wide range of issues and themes, but have a social change focus as part of the film’s vision and goals.
• Films that have various ways to describe what “impact” means for the individuals and communities that are featured.
• Films that highlight different strategies and tactics to leverage the power of documentary film and storytelling (i.e. policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, healing justice, etc.)
• Films that are nonlinear and abstract that do not follow traditional storytelling methodologies.
• Films with different levels of goals and outcomes they hope to accomplish with their impact campaign.
• Films that address issues at the local, state or national level.
• Films that have previously applied to Impact Kickstart.

The selection process will transpire through a panel that reflects the eligibility section of this award. We commit to acknowledging our power and privilege throughout this process, as well as our own subjectivity and biases when reviewing projects. We recognize that this kind of decision-making is never completely objective and we will challenge and examine our own perspectives in the selection process. Key Dates

• September 2025 – Applications open on Wednesday, September 3, 2025
• September 2025 – Q&A webinar on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. REGISTER HERE.
• October 2025 – Applications close on Friday, October 3, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET.
• October 2025 – Applications undergo multiple rounds of reviews by a selection committee made up of Working Films staff and external reviewers.
• November 2025 – Final selections will be made by a selection panel, and applicants will be notified of decisions by the end of November.
• December 2025 – Contracting begins, and the incoming cohort will participate in a virtual orientation taking place in December along with a public announcement.

To apply, complete our online application using submittable. You will create a login so that you can work on your application and have your information saved. Before you get started you can find a preview of the application questions in this PDF. You can also check out this document of frequently asked questions. Working Films strives to make all of our events and programs accessible, including our application processes. To request an accessibility accommodation or adjustment, please email [email protected], or call us at 910-342-9000.  

Watch the Impact Kickstart 2026 Webinar Q&A recording:

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The Working Films team had the chance to work with Cheris Singleton-Irizary this summer through the Nonprofit Internship Program hosted by the NC Network of Grantmakers. Cheris is a Child Development major at Meredith College and originally from Wilmington, NC. Her passion for community care, arts, and youth empowerment and resourcing caught our eye, and since bringing her on, we’ve been able to collaborate with her on building out our youth focused film programming. She has also gotten to learn about different organizing efforts and support our work on film impact strategy. Now that the summer is coming to a close (way too soon!), it fills our hearts to be able to share some of her reflections on her time with us and storytelling for change. - Hannah Hearn, Working Films’ Fellowships Lead My internship at Working Films has been one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had. In just eight weeks (that felt way too short), I have learned so much about “films for change” and have personally grown in ways I would’ve never even imagined I’d experience when I first signed up for the opportunity. I understand more about the nonprofit sector, what it means to dedicate yourself to this work, and, most importantly, what’s key to a better world. In just a few words, it is: authentic, raw storytelling. If you have a moment, I’d love to pass on a gift that was once graciously given to me. At the start of my internship, I received a folder of materials and a task list from Hannah Hearn, Working Films’ Fellowships Lead, to get me started on the right track. One of my first tasks was to watch a film from their Impact Kickstart program. I chose the film Standing Above the Clouds, and I was not just moved, but forever changed by their story. I learned of Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain of Hawaii, and the life’s work of indigenous Hawaiian women from three different families who swore to keep her safe. Across those 90 minutes, I cried, I empathized, and once it was over, I digested all the knowledge that had been gifted through the film. Pieces of indigenous Hawaiian history that dominant culture tries to erase, an active movement that demands for consent to be a foundational aspect and mandatory, the sorrows and joys of those who commit their lives to Mauna Kea, all things I would never be privy to if not for Working Films, Impact Kickstart, and Standing Above the Clouds. Working Films’ culture and endeavors introduced me to the concept of “films for change.” Films are just one vehicle for nonfiction storytelling, but they’re not to be underestimated, as they have many positives when it comes to social and environmental justice work. At their best, films are captivating and easy to disseminate. Those characteristics make film a good tool for those who are trying to spread awareness and gain support for a cause. However, many leaders on these frontlines don’t know the potential storytelling and film have to help them reach their goals. Getting to understand that, and thinking of all the lost opportunities for filmmakers and grassroots organizations, broke my heart. Working Films sees that gap and is mobilizing to close it by facilitating the connections needed between underrepresented filmmakers and those on the frontlines of dismantling oppression, whether they are community leaders close to the issue or grassroots organizations seeing where things can improve. Through facilitating these connections, Working Films eases the processes of collaborating with multiple parties and finding common ground for those they help. In turn, it’s easier for people to learn from one another and find out what’s possible going forward. I witnessed this work in action while helping two staff members facilitate the virtual strategy summit for the Standing Above the Clouds film team. These strategy summits are a collaborative seminar organized through Working Films and the filmmaking cohort of their Impact Kickstart program to complete the aforementioned goal. Gerry Leonard, Director of Filmmaker Services & Impact, and Mara Henderson, Impact Coordinator, prepared with immense care and ensured the event ran smoothly. It was noticeable how much effort was put into making the event sustainable, productive, and accessible for all participants, with tools like grounding exercises, accessibility check-ins, and more. The summit brought together Standing Above The Clouds director Jalena Keane-Lee and producer Amber Espinosa-Jones, who shared their vision for the film’s impact. They were joined by Pua Case, one of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness (MKEA) frontline leaders and a protagonist of SATC was there to represent her community’s goals and insight into impact work. Nearly 30 other participants at the summit, all there to share and learn from each other as they created a strategy on how to best use the grant from Impact Kickstart to create social and environmental impact. A major takeaway from the virtual gathering was that the future generation will need to work on making the work more sustainable, how it’s important to keep personal wellness in mind, because once your body starts to break down it’s harder to commit yourself to the things that really matter. We also had conversations about creating resources for youth to educate them on Mauna Kea in local Hawaiian schools and the power of intergenerational collaboration. That’s the deeper power of “films for change”—they’re part of a much larger web: storytelling for change. Sharing stories allows us to bridge gaps and educate in ways secondary sources can’t, as the summit did. I felt connected to the women on the Mauna because they were able to tell their stories so effectively and, in turn, I learned about what they were fighting for. The tool that made it happen should be shared throughout the field of social and environmental justice so other communities can utilize it and experience the good it can bring them and their people as well. And, some may ask: well, isn’t that how we got in this mess in the first place, telling stories? This is because, for the longest time, narratives have been spun by oppressors to justify their mistreatment of marginalized groups and the Earth itself. That’s why I didn’t just say storytelling, because, with the wrong motive, storytelling is just propaganda. It’s not a process of expressing oneself and their reality. It is simply a means to an end. Raw, authentic storytelling is about telling your truth. Not the truth, but one personal to you. It allows space for all and commands accountability so that we may share knowledge rather than debate right and wrong. That’s why I feel it is the key to a better world, because its process makes you embody all of the things dominant culture tries to sideline. Audre Lorde, an amazing Black woman, feminist, and author once wrote an essay titled, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” If we are to deconstruct our own systemic torment, we must rework the tools once used to construct it.

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For 25 years, Working Films has harnessed the power of documentary to ignite action. As we celebrate this milestone, we invite you to help shape the next 25 years of storytelling for justice. Your donation supports grassroots movements, underrepresented filmmakers, and films that make a difference. Join us: workingfilms.org/donate.

How do film screenings build community in rural and small towns? Andy Myers, Director of Campaigns and Strategy, chats with Ava Auen-Ryan, community organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI). They discuss how relationship building is at the center of rural organizing. Leading with intentionality, organizers can use the power of story and community film screenings to bring people into their membership base and build power to create social change. Andy: I always think of film as a great tool specifically for organizers that work with the people. Films are good at bringing in more people to the work, can you start by sharing more about your work and what Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement does? Ava: Sure, we are a multi-issue organization, and our overall North Star is to organize to win solutions that make life better for people. It can look like having a campaign around police reform in Des Moines, or housing work in Dubuque, or the work I did with Rural Cinema focusing on the environment, our land, AND our water, specifically in rural communities in Iowa. We’ve been working to stop a proposed CO2 Pipeline, and are in year 3 or 4 of the campaign and they have not been able to build it or get their permits. And we also work on issues related to factory farming, industrial agriculture, and how it's impacting our water, and how farmers are being impacted by consolidation within agriculture. We are a membership organization, and that is really important to us. And so we have member leaders for all of our campaigns. So for example, in North Central Iowa, we work in about a four county radius and in Mitchell County, we have a group of six to ten key leaders who help us make decisions about how we engage their community aroundwhat we're trying to fight for, so we do a lot of meetings. We do big community meetings where people show up to learn more, and we offer people ways to get involved. We do smaller planning meetings. We'll do meetings with elected officials to learn more about where they're at and figure out how we approach them around the solutions we need. We also do one-on-one meetings with people. Basically, the name of the game is talking to people as much as possible to learn what they care about, and then connecting that to the issues and trying to find ways for people to plug in. So, a good way to get people to plug in can be coming to a film screening. So lots of just trying to spend as much time talking to people as possible and building those relationships.   Andy: And why do you think working with people is the way to do all of this? Ava: I think there's no other way to sustain real change over a long period of time. It can be hard sometimes, especially in the political climate we live in. But I think most people are good people who have a lot of shared values and care about the same things. But if we're not talking to each other, like it's really easy to write each other off and that just leads to divisiveness that only benefits the current system we're in. With the pipeline for instance, if we weren't talking to each other, that's what Summit Carbon Solutions, the pipeline company wants, right? Because then they get to put their pipeline in and they get to make billions of dollars each year. We need each other. Humans are pack animals! I think it's the only way we can actually win solutions and then sustain them over time.   Andy: Definitely agree with all of that. Can you share how Iowa CCI uses film to work with people in this way, and bring more folks into the work?   Ava: When we started working with films, we used them kind of sporadically. We didn't have a huge strategy around it, but we really believed in art and moving people and inspiring people, and then we got involved with the Rural Cinema program and tried to make it a lot more intentional. And our main drive was to meet new people and to bring them into the work with different asks. We like to think of all of our asks, as a light, medium, and heavy ask. And coming to a film screening is a light ask. If instead, you just meet someone, and ask them to show up to the Capitol to lobby all day–that’s probably not a good ask, right? Because they just met you. They'd have to drive three hours. Then they have to spend all day with you. It's a lot to ask someone right away. But coming into a film screening in their community is a lot lighter of an ask and it’s a way to keep building that relationship. So that's kind of how we were trying to strategize around using film in Rural Cinema. And that's how we still think about it. At the screenings themselves, we can introduce medium and heavy asks. At one of our film showings, we were knocking doors around that time, which is a big ask–you're going to go knock on a stranger's door and ask them to sign this petition about this thing?!--that's kind of scary for most people. But that was something that we asked people to do at that film screening. We probably wouldn't ask that normally, but it was an easier ask since they had done the light ask of attending the film screening. In terms of films that we use, there are two main categories that we lean on quite a bit. One is films that have a very clear villain and a very clear movement of people who are trying to prevent something from happening. And with those films, it could be about any issue and you could apply it to the situation that you're in and learn and find similarities. Kind of those David and Goliath stories or organizing stories. The other bucket that we lean on heavily are films that offer an alternative, films that show the vision of what we're fighting for. People in the audience will often see things or make connections that we don't anticipate. Films help show the commonalities we have, even if we don't live in the same place or if we don't look the same, or there's a lot of things we have in common—the enemy is not each other. Andy: Earlier you had shared that part of why you work with people is because we need everybody or we need at least a lot of people to get our stuff done and build actual movements. Have you ever used films to bring in folks that might not yet be “with you”?   Ava: Yeah, so one good example would be the pipeline fight. There's a lot of reasons to care about this issue and kind of the reason that people got worked up about it at first was property rights and eminent domain. But we don't want to stay just there. We want to expand the issue and talk about how it's impacting the land and our water. And also, you know, climate change and how this is a false energy solution. There's other things that we should be investing in. And we're working primarily in rural Iowa. If you look at Mitchell County, it's overwhelmingly older white folks and probably folks who are more conservative than maybe we are. And so we showed 'LN3: The 7 Teachings of the Anishinaabe Resistance.’ It showed a fight led by indigenous people and in the film they talked a lot about their experience and their perspective and the solutions that indigenous cultures offer to the climate crisis and that's just a different experience that the folks we're working with don’t have. People learn through experience and through repetition, so showing the film was offering someone an experience to learn about something that otherwise, they would have never gotten to see or learn about. And some of these people might not believe in climate change, but they care about the land, or they care about the water. They care about all these things but climate change might not be something they talk about. With this film, the climate change connection was relatively explicit, and it showed we can talk about this and it's going to be okay.   Andy: With Rural Cinema, there is a deeper commitment of time and energy. Y’all have to learn the equipment, you have to do the trainings, and then you do a whole film series. Why did you invest so much time and energy into films as a tool for your organizing?   Ava: It goes back to offering opportunities for all of us to learn. We all always have something to learn and it's a great way to do that. And then two, just going back to those “lighter asks” where we know not all of the different tactics or activities we do fit people's skill set or interest. So this is one that I think pretty broadly, people are comfortable with, they want to learn more. So yeah, it kind of just goes back to its one of those lighter asks that can get people in the door and get them to stick with us long term. With films, it's also emotional. It's a piece of art. It can move you in a way where a typical conversation may not. There's other “light asks” we could ask people to do and they would do them, but it doesn't have the same emotional reaction or connection that a piece of art can bring. We have lots of creative people on staff. I can be creative at certain times. And also sometimes it's hard. So we're grateful that people create things like this that we can utilize. Especially for staff or member leaders who have been involved, we think about this stuff all day long and it can be really easy to compartmentalize and this reminds you of what's at stake and “the why” behind doing all the work. And I think that's super important to keep going. And I think keeping going is the most important thing we can all do right now.  

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If you're interested in learning how to put film to work for community change and inspire others to take action, join us for our Story Leads To Community webinar on July 30, 2025, at 3 PM EST. Register here. For more on Rural Cinema, check out the Rural Cinema project page. Applications for the 2026 cohort will open this winter. To learn more information on Ava and the important work of Iowa CCI, check out their site at this link.  

The Cucalorus Works-in-Progress (WiP) Lab supports social justice documentaries with a focus on Black storytelling. Co-designed and coordinated by Working Films, participating artists will receive feedback on their work-in-progress and explore audience engagement strategies through workshops, consultations, and community screenings during a residency at Cucalorus’ campus from April 22-29, 2025. Now in its 17th year, the Works-in-Progress Lab was launched in 2008 through a partnership between Working Films and Cucalorus. The following documentary films were selected for the Cucalorus 2025 Works-in-Progress Lab:

Of the Soil by Alexis Bell

   

Working Films was founded on the premise that Story Leads to Action. And for 25 years, we’ve made that tagline a reality by building trusting relationships between filmmakers and organizers, ensuring that when the lights come up after a film, audiences have meaningful ways to plug into efforts for change. Two and a half decades later we are still bringing the world of filmmaking together with social justice through dynamic programs that are tackling the most pressing issues of our time. Our connection to the San Francisco Bay Area is not just part of our history—it’s central to who we are. This community has long been a hub of visionary storytelling and organizing, and our collaborations here have deeply influenced our approach to media and impact. From the very beginning, we've worked alongside incredible Bay Area artists, filmmakers, and changemakers whose creativity and commitment to justice have expanded what’s possible in our work. Our first-of-its-kind Impact Producer training, Reel Change, launched in partnership with BAVC, set the stage for a more inclusive and intentional approach to building the field. We've proudly collaborated with institutions like ITVS, CAAMFest, Fist Up Film Festival, and The Redford Center—each playing a vital role in strengthening the documentary and media impact ecosystem, not only in the Bay Area but across the nation. Our partnerships with local organizations and organizers have ensured that powerful media doesn’t just reach audiences—it moves them. Oakland-based organization, Critical Resistance, served as a design partner for Beyond Walls, our compilation of short films reimagining a world without prisons and policing. These films have reached over 100 communities, thanks in no small part to the strategic and values-aligned organizing of our Bay Area collaborators. Through the Rise-Home Stories Project, we joined forces with groups like ACCE, Causa Justa :: Just Cause, and others to co-create five groundbreaking media projects that reimagine our relationships to land and home. This project also included work with Bay Area artists such as Rober Liu- Trujillo, Leticia Hernández Linares, and filmmaker Leah Mahan. One of the project's standout pieces—a podcast featuring stories about community-led disaster response highlighted  KBBF 89.1 FM’s critical role in recovery efforts following devastating wildfires in the Sonoma area.  And, the Bay continues to be home to many of the remarkable filmmakers we support. This year, our Impact Kickstart program is backing two groundbreaking documentaries led by women of color directors challenging systems of oppression. Traces of Home, directed and produced by Colette Ghunim, is one of these powerful projects with strong roots in the Bay. “Being selected as part of Impact Kickstart is a life-changing opportunity to serve my community,” says Colette. “I am eternally grateful to partner with such a heart-centered, intentional team.” There are so many other colleagues and allies from the Bay that we could name, who we continue to draw inspiration and energy from the community’s deep legacy of activism and artistry. Together, we’ve sparked connections, conversations, and actions that have fueled movements and made a lasting impact. Even in moments like this—when the work ahead feels daunting—it’s essential to celebrate the strength of our community of artists, truth tellers, culture bearers, and organizers, and to nourish our spirits for the journey forward. That’s why we’re thrilled to invite you to join us in San Francisco on May 15th for an evening celebrating Working Films’ 25th anniversary. Together, we’ll enjoy appetizers, drinks, and a special performance by Bay Area poet and filmmaker Yosimar Reyes, along with inspiring stories from filmmakers we’ve worked with, our staff, and board. Most importantly, it will be a chance to come together in community, uplift one another, and connect with others who are committed to using film as a tool for change.  

This event and our work are made possible by the generosity of our supporters. Thank you so much to the sponsors for the Working Films San Francisco Anniversary Celebration:

Impact Sponsor:

Lisa Kleiner Chanoff

Changemaker Sponsor:

Julie Parker Benello, in honor of Working Films’ co-founder Judith Helfand

Community Sponsor:

Ally Sponsors:

Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Color Congress,and  Nancy Blachman, Founder, JRMF.org

 

Purchase your tickets and learn more about sponsorship opportunities by visiting: https://bit.ly/4czmuC5.

We hope to see you there—and stay tuned for details on an NYC celebration this fall!

- The Working Films Team

 

For the first time ever, Cucalorus and Working Films are inviting the public to experience the 2025 Works-in-Progress Lab—an immersive residency that champions independent filmmakers telling powerful stories of social justice. Taking place April 22-29, 2025, at Jengo’s Playhouse in downtown Wilmington, the Lab provides hands-on guidance in audience engagement and accountable storytelling. Each evening, audiences will get an exclusive first look at one of five powerful works-in-progress, with filmmakers and mentors joining in person to share insights and spark conversation. The gatherings begin at 6:30pm -- Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday's screening will begin at 3:00pm. Filmmakers in this year’s cohort will refine their outreach strategies, ensuring their documentaries foster meaningful impact. The program is part of an ongoing effort to empower filmmakers with the tools to connect their stories with communities and drive change. Five filmmaking teams will receive extensive community feedback during a series of public screenings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations with mentors Jackie Olive, Byron Hurt, Akili Davis and Natalie Bullock Brown. Designed to support independent social justice filmmakers, the Lab focuses on audience engagement and accountable storytelling, equipping participants with the tools to develop impactful outreach strategies for their documentaries. “Witnessing the relationships grow within the Lab between the cohort throughout the week is powerful and creates an environment of trust and support with aligned filmmakers, mentors and community members,” mentioned  Works-in-Progress Lab organizer Stephanie Avery. The following films have been selected for the 2025 WiP Lab:

• Women Who Ride, directed by Jessica Jones, follows Tish Edwards, founder of Oakland’s first Black women’s motorcycle club, as she balances leadership, caregiving, and her passion for riding.

 

• Afromystic, directed by Seyi Adebanjo, is a lyrical documentary exploring the spiritual journeys of LGBTQ+ Yoruba practitioners across Nigeria, Brazil, and the U.S. Through ritual, storytelling, and performance, the film challenges colonial erasure, highlighting Queer resilience within indigenous traditions.

 

• Of the Soil, directed by Alexis Bell, follows farmer and activist Kendrick Ransome, as he fights for Black food sovereignty, reclaiming land, mentoring youth, and advocating for sustainable agriculture to build a healthier future.

 

• Allensworth: The Town that Refuses to Die, directed by Daryl Jones, follows Black and Latine residents that are fighting climate change and hardship with resilience, preserving a legacy of survival and community.

• The Co-op: The Kids of Dorie Miller, directed by Paulina Davis, follows her family's history at NYC’s pioneering unsegregated housing co-op, The Dorie Miller Co-op, exploring its legacy of community and resistance amid today’s affordable housing crisis.

The Works-in-Progress Lab is designed and led by Working Films, a Wilmington-based nonprofit organization that is nationally recognized for its work using documentaries as a resource to inform and involve communities in addressing social and environmental issues that impact their lives. Interviews with any of the filmmakers can be arranged by request. Please contact Stephanie Avery at [email protected] to schedule or visit jengos.eventive.org/schedule for detailed information about each screening.