Dirty Business in Kansas

There is a debate heating up in Kansas about the proposed expansion of the Holcomb Station coal-fired power plant. Proponents of Sunflower Electric Power’s plant expansion cite the need to meet the growing load requirement in the region. Opponents argue that Kansas has the nation’s second-best wind resource and that in the long run, renewable energy can meet energy requirements at lower cost to rate payers and to the environment. The Kansas Department of Health & Environment’s (KDHE) has hosted three public hearings this week to listen to the voices…

Hey, It’s Personal!

It’s Wednesday evening after another steamy day on the NC coast, with the temperature still close to 100. I have just poured a crisp, cool glass of white wine, and am scanning the Internet, waiting to hear about Judge Walker’s decision on Prop 8, and the fight to repeal the ban of gay marriages in CA. My cell rings, it’s my (straight) friend Liz, “Hey! We won! I just heard on NPR! They overturned Prop 8.” Wow. While not unexpected, suddenly I am short of breath. Imagine the impact: this…

Guest Blog: Jeremy Levine's "Good Fortune"

Five summers ago, I arrived in the Wilmington firehouse for my first day of work as a summer intern at Working Films. Three days later, I got appendicitis and was rushed into surgery. And one week ago, I watched Good Fortune, a feature documentary I produced and edited, air on POV on PBS. All of these events feel connected to me, I’m just not sure how exactly. Perhaps it’s the surreal feeling to it all—arriving to work the first day confused to find a firehouse in place of a standard…

Films for Good this weekend!

From a pool of over 60 films, we narrowed the finalists down to eight powerful stories told by committed filmmakers, all attending our Films for Good workshop this weekend, 3 – 25 July, in Islington, London. We designed this workshop with the Channel 4 BRITDOC team to create effective strategic community and audience engagement campaigns for social issue documentaries accepted into the program. We’ve already developed some ideas for each film’s campaign with a suggested range of potential partners – including leading NGOs as well as some corporate brand partners.…

Curbing our oil consumption with No Impact Man

In an OpEd in the New York Daily News, No Impact Man Colin Beavan tackles the connection between our consumption-based economy and the BP oil spill. He opens his piece comparing oil to alcohol: Question: When an alcoholic leaves a bar, gets behind the wheel and drunkenly drives into his third or fourth wreck, do you blame the bartender who served the drinks or the alcoholic who drank them? Now answer this: When a society addicted to greater and greater fossil fuel use experiences what may amount to the largest…

Grant Opportunity for Women Filmmakers

Chicken & Egg Pictures and Rooftop Films have joined together to offer a short film grant of $6000 to women filmmakers. Any filmmaker who has ever screened at Rooftop Films, or who has ever applied for or received support from Chicken & Egg Pictures is eligible to apply. For more information on what to include in your application, please visit Chicken & Egg Pictures. Application deadline is August 3, 2010.

Congrats to former board member, Jon Stout!

One of our former board members, Jon Stout, was recently awarded the 2010 Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award by the Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Jon co-founded Free Speech TV, an organization that works tirelessly to cultivate an informed and active citizenry while promoting voices and perspectives that have been under-represented in commercial media. We’d also like to welcome Jon’s newest addition to his family, Farryn Welkin Barnstead Stout.

A New Kind of Website

A few months ago, Working Films consulted with the filmmakers of A New Kind of Listening and Speaking in Tongues about the redesign of their websites. Their new websites launched just in time for summer and we are impressed by the outcome! See the transformation for yourself by clicking on the before and after images below! A New Kind of Listening BEFORE: AFTER: Speaking in Tongues BEFORE: AFTER:

Good Pitch at Silverdocs

Whew, just back from Washington DC and the Good Pitch @ Silverdocs, where it was hot hot hot – both inside the Performing Arts Center with an amazing lineup of films and responses from funders, NGOs, and strategists, and outside, where the temp hovered around 99. Jess Search, of C4 BRITDOC, set up a time lapse camera to capture the day: If you missed out on the pitches, you can catch a play by play glimpse on Twitter and Facebook. Also, check out these recaps from the Silverdocs Blog and…