LATEST NEWS

On February 11 & 12, Working Films hosted a great weekend of events for our media campaign Reel Equality. Aimed at defeating the anti-gay NC amendment coming up for a vote this May, the campaign is touring 6 stellar documentary films on LGBT struggles to audiences around the state to inspire viewers -- our straight allies, our co-workers, members of our congregations, and those who care about the welfare of our vulnerable youth -- to VOTE NO. Being headquartered in Wilmington, NC, we were excited by the high energy and great turn out at one of the first of 100+ events we are hoping to book across the state. We kicked off the weekend with a fundraising dinner for Protect NC Families, the coalition of groups working hard to defeat the amendment. It was co-hosted by our own executive director Robert West as well as Judson (Jud) H. Gee of JHG Financial Advisors. It was a great evening attended by community leaders and local activists, including our NC House Representative, Susi Hamilton and City Councilman Kevin O'Grady. With Jud's sponsorship, we were able to raise funds for the effort as well as start a dialogue about how this amendment will harm ALL NC families. Later that evening at City Stage we screened two of the Reel Equality films, Cynthia Wade's Freeheld and Out in the Silence by Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer. The Oscar-winning short Freeheld tackles the issue of benefits extension to same-sex partners while the Emmy-winner Out in the Silence profiles the bullying faced by LGBT youth, both big issues when anti-gay constitutional amendments rear their ugly heads. Sunday night, we showed Thomas Allen Harris' Marriage Equality, a short film which connects the civil rights movement with the gay equality movement, and Gen Silent by Stu Maddux, a film about the struggles LGBT seniors are facing in this current society of discrimination. All of the screenings were well attended and we signed everyone up to join the fight and spread the word about the very real implications this amendment will have if passed. If you're in North Carolina or another state currently facing LGBT discrimination, go to reelequality.org to find out how to bring these stories to your town.

Working Films and The Fledgling Fund have just announced Reel Change 2012, the third in our annual series of workshops for audience and community engagement coordinators. This time we’re hosting in Washington D.C. in collaboration with the Center for Social Media at American University. The focus of the training is on designing and running successful media engagement campaigns – from honing the purpose and vision of the campaign, to approaching and solidifying relationships with non-profit organizational allies and brands; effective website and social media strategies to fundraising, tracking and evaluation. Our Deputy Director, Molly Murphy will lead the training with The Fledgling Fund’s Director of Programs and Communications, Emily Verellen. We will be joined by Angelica Das, Associate Director of the Center for Social Media and representatives of national organizations who have used media in to advance their efforts and can share an insiders perspective on building and maintaining effective partnerships, a key theme the training. Apply to Reel Change online before March 9^th.

Do you live in a community that has been impacted or likely to be by mountaintop removal, fracking, or a coal-fired power plant? Are you in a community where alternative energy solutions are being implemented? Or, have you already hosted one of the Reel Power films and would like to explore the related issues around coal, gas, climate change and renewable energy solutions with your community? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the Reel Power Film Festival may be for you. Working Films is pleased to announce the launch of the Reel Power Film Festival and a Grassroots Mini-grant Opportunity. Reel Power is a collection of films that tell stories from the frontlines of our energy crisis and into our energy future and have the power to get your community talking and taking action. While anyone can host a Reel Power Film Festival, organizations and grassroots groups that are impacted by natural resource extraction, climate change or are tapping into renewable energy solutions are invited to apply for one of fourteen mini-grants to support their event. We’ll offer mini-grants to frontline groups that are interested in bringing two or more of the films to their community this Spring or Summer. These grants of $250 cash with $500 additional in-kind will cover screening fees and other resources needed to put on a stellar event (such as venue rental, get the word out materials, etc.). Two to four of these events will receive a higher level of in-kind support valued at an additional $2500. For more information on the Reel Power Film Festival, mini-grants and how to apply, please visit workingfilms.org/reelpowergrants. Contact Reel Power director Kristin Henry at khenry [at] workingfilms.org if you have additional questions along the way.  

Dirty Business is an impressive film that takes a hard look at the cycle of coal, and examines the PR campaign of clean coal and its subsequent consequences. The film also looks at the extent to which we could replace coal by increasing our energy efficiency by telling the stories of innovators who are pointing the way to an alternative energy future. Working Films, along with The Center for Investigative Reporting and The Environmental Justice Alliance of Greater Southeast Chicago, will host a free screening of the film that’s open to the public on Friday, February 10th at The Zone in Chicago, Illinois. This special screening will bring the community together to discuss the environmental consequences that are currently facing Chicago residents including the two old and dirty coal plants in Pilsen and Little Village and a proposed coal gasification plant for the already struggling Southeast side. These are some of the most polluted areas of Chicago, where residents suffer adverse health effects like asthma, heart disease and premature death. The good news is that the city is currently considering the passing of a resolution called The Chicago Clean Power Ordinance, which would require that the highly polluting Fisk and Crawford plants in Pilsen and Little Village either greatly reduce their pollution or shut down completely. Following Friday night’s screening will be a Q&A with the director of the film, Peter Bull, along with members of The Environmental Justice Alliance to explore the stories in the film and ideas and opportunities on how the audience can get involved to move Chicago beyond coal. If you are interested in bringing Dirty Business to your community, you can find out more on our site or contact Andy Myers at amyers [at] workingfilms.org.

Working Films is proud to announce the documentary projects selected for Reel Aging: Real Change, an initiative supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  These eleven compelling documentary films and transmedia projects explore aging from varied perspectives and will be tied to the ongoing policy work and grassroots campaigns supporting older populations. The collaborative of Reel Aging projects was curated to include films that reflect the highest caliber of film-making, feature the most pressing issues facing older adults, and celebrate elders. These projects tell inspiring stories of active, engaged elders who are changing our culture’s typical perception of aging as well as stories that powerfully illuminate the personal and societal decisions most of us will face as we care for ourselves and our loved ones. Equally important, Reel Aging includes films focused on justice for often marginalized populations that are aging. Age of Champions (Director: Christopher Rufo) is the uplifting story of a group of athletes—a 100-year-old tennis champion, 86-year-old pole vaulter, octogenarian swimmers, and team of basketball grandmothers—all chasing gold at the National Senior Games. American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (Director/Producer:  Grace Lee) tells the story a 96-year-old Chinese-American activist and philosopher inDetroit who has dedicated her life to creating the next American Revolution. What Grace means by revolution and her journey through a century’s worth of social movements tell an unexpected story of how one woman changed herself to change the world around her. Coming of Age in Aging America (Director: Christine Herbes-Sommers) is a multi-platform project that explores a social transformation unfolding across our - and other modern - societies. America is an aging society, and it's not just about old people. This phenomenon will change everything: how we approach education, work, health, housing, transportation, technology, medical care, and the economy. Communities for All Ages (Director: Yoruba Richen)  is a work in progress that will document  five diverse communities where older adults, teens, and young parents identify and take action on issues affecting multiple generations such as health, safety, life-long learning  and immigrant integration. The Genius of Marian (Director: Banker White) follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease as her son, the filmmaker, documents her struggles to hang on to a sense of self. The Graying of AIDS – Stories from an Aging Epidemic (Director/Co-Producer: Katja Heinemann) is a multi-media, multi-platform documentary project and integrated educational campaign centered on a series of digital video portraits that draw attention to a startling fact: By 2015, half of all Americans living with HIV will be over the age of fifty. Kings Point (Director/Producer: Sari Gilman) is a short documentary that portrays the complexities of life in a typical retirement community through the experiences of six of its residents, providing a bittersweet look at our ambivalent relationship with freedom, self-reliance, and community. Old People Driving (Director/Producer: Shaleece Haas) is a short documentary film chronicling the adventures of 96-year-old Milton and 99-year-old Herbert as they confront the end of their driving years. Parenting 102: The Sandwiched Generation Speaks Out (Director/Producer: Mary Katzke) explores issues common to families caught between caring for their elderly parents, their own younger children, and their careers. Prison Terminal (Director/Producer: Edgar A. Barens) is a feature-length documentary that breaks through the walls of one of America’s oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill, elderly prisoner and the hospice volunteers—they themselves prisoners—who care for him. The film provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated. Untitled Gay Retiree Documentary (Director: PJ Raval) traces a year in the lives of three LGBTQ seniors, and a lifetime of experiences, and confronts the realities of aging in the LGBTQ community. Reel Aging: Real Change will begin with a four-day residency for these media makers to be held from March 23 - 26, 2012 near Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, March 27, the media makers will present their projects to regional, national and global NGOs, funders, government agencies, activists, and policy makers – all leaders in the field of aging who have a track record of supporting the rights, respect and health of elders. Together they will explore the ways in which the documentary film and new media projects can be used to protect and enhance the rights of older adults and advance personal and policy changes that will improve their and our lives.        

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 and their families exposed to toxic drinking water at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, including detailed and important information about the water situation and how it affects current and former residents and employees. After the film screening, over 120 audience members stayed for 90 minutes for a conversation with the filmmakers and Master Sgt. Ensminger; Hope Hodge, the military reporter from the Jacksonville Daily News; and David Andrews, an expert from the Environmental Working Group. Incredibly moving testimony from audience members reflected the hurt in this community, with folks sharing personal stories of their own cancers and the loss of their children or parents to rare cancers and illnesses. There were tears and anger, and solidarity in the room over their outrage at Camp Lejeune. Jacksonville was the first stop on a planned North and South Carolina tour by Working Films and the filmmakers, with a potential national tour of other toxic military sites in 2012. And, as promised to the audience on Sunday, we will bring the film back to Jacksonville. It was very clear that this is a community that still needs a lot of answers and a conduit for collective action. It was an amazing weekend, and then Semper Fi got great news – shortlisted for feature documentary for the Academy Awards 2012. Congratulations to the filmmakers and Chicken & Egg Pictures, executive producers. Read about the screening in the Jacksonville Daily News here.

   

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 film follows these two eleven-year-old city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates. The girls address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, how many miles it travels from the harvest to their plate, how it’s prepared, who prepares it, and what is done afterwards with the packaging and leftovers. The process leads the two friends to formulate sophisticated and compassionate opinions on the state of their society, and by doing so inspire hope and active engagement in others. Filmmaker Catherine Gund and Mary Jeys, the film’s outreach coordinator, will be in attendance to share the film’s trailer and an education module and talk about the campaign’s impact. Invited guests to this celebration on the film’s success will include the educators, nonprofit partners, and individual campaign participants who have put the film and web project to work. We will also be joined by Jessica Oreck, producer/writer/director of Pipe Fire. We’ll screen the trailer for this feature work-in-progress, which presents one year in the life of traditional reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland and illuminates an unfamiliar bond between man and nature. It tracks the Aatsinkis family through their seasonal routines as they catch and mark the new reindeer calves in the spring, herd newborns and adults in the summer, and slaughter them for food and pelts as well as mass consumption in the fall. Both of these New York based projects will have just participated in our Reel Food residency. Judith Helfand, co-founder of Working Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures, will lead a lively and interactive discussion with the directors, invited guests, and YOU, the audience, about the success of What’s on the Plate, the promise of Pipe Fire and the outcomes of the Reel Food residency. Both these films present great case studies on how to balance the needs of a character-driven film with the needs of local, regional and global advocacy campaigns, with a focus on local efforts in New York City. Come be part of it, we hope to see you there!

   

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 film follows these two eleven-year-old city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girl guides talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates. The girls address questions regarding the origin of the food they eat, how it’s cultivated, how many miles it travels from the harvest to their plate, how it’s prepared, who prepares it, and what is done afterwards with the packaging and leftovers. The process leads the two friends to formulate sophisticated and compassionate opinions on the state of their society, and by doing so inspire hope and active engagement in others. Filmmaker Catherine Gund and Mary Jeys, the film’s outreach coordinator, will be in attendance to share the film’s trailer and an education module and talk about the campaign’s impact. Invited guests to this celebration on the film’s success will include the educators, nonprofit partners, and individual campaign participants who have put the film and web project to work. We will also be joined by Jessica Oreck, producer/writer/director of Pipe Fire. We’ll screen the trailer for this feature work-in-progress, which presents one year in the life of traditional reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland and illuminates an unfamiliar bond between man and nature. It tracks the Aatsinkis family through their seasonal routines as they catch and mark the new reindeer calves in the spring, herd newborns and adults in the summer, and slaughter them for food and pelts as well as mass consumption in the fall. Both of these New York based projects will have just participated in our Reel Food residency. Judith Helfand, co-founder of Working Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures, will lead a lively and interactive discussion with the directors, invited guests, and YOU, the audience, about the success of What’s on the Plate, the promise of Pipe Fire and the outcomes of the Reel Food residency. Both these films present great case studies on how to balance the needs of a character-driven film with the needs of local, regional and global advocacy campaigns, with a focus on local efforts in New York City. Come be part of it, we hope to see you there!