2021 Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab

The Works-in-Progress Lab (WiP) is a partnership between Cucalorus and Working Films that supports the audience engagement and impact strategies of social issue documentaries being made by Black filmmakers. The week-long residency is a key program of the annual Cucalorus. Five filmmakers receive extensive community feedback during a series of public and private screenings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations with expert mentors. The following documentary films were selected for the 2021 WiP lab: 2021 Works-in-Progress Lab Participants Little Sallie Walker by Marta Effinger-Crichlow Play is a lifeline for Black girls across the…

Announcing the 2020 Works-in-Progress Lab

The Works-in-Progress Lab (WiP) is a partnership between Cucalorus and Working Films that supports the audience engagement and impact strategies of social issue documentaries being made by Black filmmakers. The week-long virtual residency is a key program of the annual Cucalorus. Five filmmakers receive extensive community feedback during a series of public and private screenings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations with expert mentors. We’re thrilled to announce that the following documentary films have been selected for the 2020 WiP lab: 17 Days directed by and about Christine Varisse, is a dissection…

Democracy for Sale Travels to Virginia

A border and barbeque aren’t the only things Virginia and North Carolina have in common. The two states also have some of the most gerrymandered districts in the country. Cozy relationships between regulators and industry are another commonality. A new film called Democracy for Sale featuring NC native and comedian Zach Galifianakis puts a spotlight on the ways big money political interests have influenced the drawing of district lines and led to a lack of environmental protection and tax cuts for the upper class and corporations, education cuts, gerrymandering, and laws…

Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2 Across Missouri

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.…

Sacred Cod Tours Maine

What’s the prospect of a region built on cod having no cod left to fish? Beginning August 23rd the Camden International Film Festival and Working Films are partnering with the Down to Earth Storytelling Project, The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, and many local organizations to launch a screening tour of Sacred Cod along the eastern seaboard of Maine to find out. The film focuses on the collapse of the historic cod population throughout New England, delving into the role of overfishing, impact of climate change, the effect of government policies placed on fishermen.…

NC Stands Up with Democracy for Sale

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…

Democracy for Sale Screens Across NC

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…

Short Films Break Down Solar Policies

Films are an incredible resource for translating the complex. Two new shorts break down two of the biggest policy battles surrounding the transition to renewable energy: Net Metering and Rate Design. Suncatcher  In Suncatcher, Award winning director of Catching The Sun, Shalini Kantayya interviews Former California EPA Secretary Terry Tamminen. He explains net metering, one of the most important state policies impacting people who want to make the transition to clean power in their homes. Net Metering & Interconnection: Pillars of the New Energy Economy This animated piece by Catching The Sun‘s NGO partner, Vote Solar, breaks…

Race Flicks – Story Leads to Action at Facing Race

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…

YOU ARE HERE New York – A film and mapping tour

The good news: fracking was banned in New York State! The reality: more than 137 natural gas pipelines, compressor stations, frack waste, and storage facilities are proposed, under construction or in operation there. The Sane Energy Project had been keeping tabs on it all. The YOU ARE HERE map let’s residents see the gas and oil network across the state, zoom in on each facility, and find out who’s organizing to stop it. They’ve also recently teamed up with the FracTracker Alliance to begin uploading personal stories about residents’ experiences while living…