Story Leads To Action Workshop

How can films shift public understanding and inspire action for social justice? Working Films—together with our partners at The Light Factory and The School of Good Citizenship— is leading a free online workshop on September 24th at 1pm ET focused on leveraging the power of documentaries to amplify important messages, reach and rally key audiences, build partnerships, and influence decision makers. As a case study, the workshop will feature Stories Beyond Borders, an organizing initiative featuring five short films that together show a comprehensive picture of the attacks on immigrants…

Three social justice online screening events in June 2020

Are you looking to engage in more conversations about racial justice? Or maybe there are people you know who are looking to expand their analysis and understanding of systemic inequities? We invite you to join us for our upcoming online screening events this week and next, which will tackle environmental racism, immigrant justice, and equity during disasters. Please spread the word to your networks! Mossville: When Great Trees Fall June 16 @ 7pm ET RSVP here for streaming link Presented with Partnership For Southern Equity What does environmental racism mean?…

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…

Submit Your Film to the Resisting Infrastructure Media Project

Working Films is seeking submissions for a new film and organizing initiative that will showcase stories from the frontlines of the battle against oil and gas infrastructure. From pipelines to compressor stations, groups and individuals across the country are working to stop oil and gas infrastructure. Powerful stories are needed to amplify successes and unite people from various locations to learn from each other’s efforts and increase their collective impact. We are looking for films that: Showcase organizing and direct action strategies, demonstrate health and environmental impacts from fossil fuel…

Host a FREE Shore Stories Screening

After successful tours of Shore Stories in NC, SC, GA, and VA we’re making the compilation DVD available for communities in other states who want to celebrate the protection of the Atlantic and strengthen opposition to Seismic testing. Request a DVD and Host a Free Community Screening of Shore Stories. The films highlight the grassroots resistance that led to the exclusion of the Atlantic from the latest proposal for drilling leases, and includes stories from past oil and gas exploration – including the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Shore Stories also…

COAL ASH STORIES RETURNS TO THE TARHEEL STATE

Just before the second anniversary of the Dan River coal ash spill, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held public hearings on basin closures across the state. At the center of the public comment period, and a series of hearings across the state, was determining the priority for closure among the 14 Duke Energy owned coal ash sites. The final rankings will determine both the closure clean-up process and a closure deadline. To inform residents and involve them in the DEQ public comment period, Working Films organized six Coal…