Reel Power: Films Fueling The Energy Revolution is a new type of film experience that addresses the most important environmental and social justice issues of our time.

The stories of climate change are many and as different as each individual the world’s energy crisis touches. From a woman in Kentucky fighting for her homeplace against the ravages of mountaintop removal, to an indigenous leader in Peru standing up against the exploitation of the Amazon, to a group of young people in California finding opportunity in a renewable energy training program - the voices of individuals and the strength of community unite us.

To support the movement for a sustainable and just future, Working Films has brought together ten groundbreaking filmmakers with cutting-edge grassroots organizations to create a dynamic new film collaborative. Reel Power brings you stories from the frontline of our energy crisis and into our energy future that will get your community talking and taking action.

Screen Reel Power Films in Your Community
Contact Reel Power director Kristin Henry with any questions or help with setting up a Reel Power Film Festival: khenry [at] workingfilms.org.

We are currently reviewing the Mini-grant Opportunity applications submitted and expect to announce the recipients by March 14th. Please sign up to our newsletter to hear who the grantees are and for other updates and opportunities.

Out Now:

Cape Spin

Cape Spin tackles the root causes of society’s inability to produce a large-scale solution to the global energy crisis it created, framing the events of the Cape Wind project as a microcosm of America’s struggle toward sustainability and energy independence. Cape Spin is available to begin screening in the Fall of 2012. Their film team would like to hear from you and work to set up advanced screenings; contact info@rebirthproductions.net for more details. Stay connected with the film as it travels through festivals by liking it on Facebook.

Deep Down

Deep in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky, Beverly May and Terry Ratliff find themselves at the center of a contentious community battle over a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine. Purchase the film and download screening toolkits here.

Dirty Business

Dirty Business: "Clean Coal" and the Battle for Our Energy Future is a 90-minute documentary produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting that aims to give a full accounting of the true cost of our dependence on coal for electricity in the age of climate change and highlights communities that are integrating renewable energy projects across the country. Purchase the film and download community screening toolkits here.

Gasland

When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. Purchase the film and download community screening toolkits here.

Split Estate

Split Estate maps a tragedy in the making, as citizens in the path of a new drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West struggle against the erosion of their civil liberties, their communities and their health. Purchase the film and community screening toolkits here.

Sun Come Up

Sun Come Up  follows the relocation of some of the the Carteret Islanders a peaceful community living on a remote island chain in the South Pacific Ocean, and now, some of the world’s first environmental refugees. Purchase the film here.

Coming Soon:
The films below are all in production and will be coming out in 2013. We will provide groups hosting a Reel Power Film Festival with a special DVD of all the film trailers that includes extra clips and resources that are relevant to grassroots organizing. Pair the trailers that interest you with the films above to create a dynamic event.

Cooked
Cooked, a feature length documentary film and engagement project due out in 2013, is a story about the politics of disaster. The film will boldly ask questions every U.S. city must address, be it faced with extreme weather or extreme poverty. Will their most vulnerable citizens die of the heat? Or will they die of long-term social and economic disinvestment? Can the disaster masters, "crisis czars" and emergency preparedness teams conceive of community resilience as a preemptive necessity -- before the next disaster?


Green Shall Overcome
Green Shall Overcome is a feature length documentary in production due out in early 2013 about Van Jones, the controversial environmental activist. In five short years, Jones has catapulted himself from a little known Bay Area activist to an internationally recognized innovator, handpicked by the Obama Administration to serve as a Special Advisor to the President. Jones’ impressive climb came on the strength of his visionary initiative for “green-collar jobs” which are designed to address two of the most daunting domestic challenges facing the United States today: over-dependence on fossil fuels and an unemployed workforce, trained for the jobs of yesterday.

Solarize This

Solarize This is a feature length documentary in production due out in 2013. In a toxic city where oil spills, ecological red-alerts, and poverty are commonplace, the film asks the hard questions of how a green economy may actually be built, through the stories of three working-class trainees at a solar power vocational program in Richmond, California. The film team is currently seeking to raise $50,000 by April 15, 2012 to complete a full-length rough cut of the film. You can contribute with a tax-deductible donation through SpeakOut.

When Two Worlds Collide

When Two Worlds Collide is a feature length documentary due out in 2013. The film follows the hazardous journey of an Amazonian leader confronting rules of the globalization game created by developed countries in order to protect corporate interests. With the rainforest in jeopardy, this apocalyptic story presents two colliding visions that shape the climate future of our world. Stay connected with the film by liking it on Facebook.

Reel Power is proud to partner with: