Today marks one year since the passing of our beloved co-founder Robert West. We are continuing to honor him today by posting more tributes from his friends, family, and colleagues. Below you’ll find the eulogy given by Judith Helfand, Robert’s dear friend and the co-founder of Working Films, who reflects on their longtime friendship and pioneering work together. We’re also sharing reflections from Robert’s twin sister, Jane Bench, and Robert’s childhood friend Ted Winfield that were given at Robert’s memorial service last year. If these stories and tributes inspire you to share…
It has been a year since our co-founder Robert West passed away. We’re honoring him this week by posting tributes to him from his friends, family, and colleagues. Today we’ve shared the words of Reggie Shuford, Robert’s friend and the Working Films board chair, and Robert’s niece, Emily West. If you feel inspired to share your own memories of Robert after reading, please post in the comments here or on our Facebook page. For Robert West By Emily West Thank you for letting me speak about Robert today. I am…
50 years have passed since Freedom Summer, when more than 700 local organizers and students took segregated Mississippi by storm, registering voters, and creating freedom schools. Freedom Summer put a national spotlight on the violent voter suppression facing Black Americans in the deep south and ultimately led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Half a century later, voting rights are under attack again. That’s why Working Films, the NC NAACP, Democracy NC, and many allies are bringing screenings of Freedom Summer to cities across North Carolina this month…
The Moral Movies Film Series got off to a great start last month with screenings of the Teacher Salary Project’s American Teacher. Hundreds of people turned out across North Carolina to witness, discuss, and take action in response to the struggles on screen and those faced by public school teachers every day in a state ranked 46th in the country in teacher pay. The screenings were timed just as shocking teacher turnover numbers were released in the wake of a legislative assault on public education. It wasn’t hard for audiences…
Working Films, the NC-NAACP, and state and local organizations from around North Carolina are partnering to present MORAL MOVIES – a four month series of award-winning films to jumpstart community dialogue and action on social, economic, and environmental issues relevant to the state. The series of free screenings will kick off with American Teacher, a documentary that follows the lives and careers of four teachers and offers an opportunity to spotlight teacher pay and public education in North Carolina, which recently dropped to 46th nationally in rankings of teacher salaries.…
The New Public, a film by Jyllian Gunther is the most recent addition to the Reel Education co-hort. The film follows an ambitious group of teachers who create Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School (BCAM) a small, public high school in an under served neighborhood of Brooklyn. The film provides a close-up look at the struggles teachers face in and outside of school. In North Carolina, a state where teacher pay is ranked at 46th in the nation and public funds are being diverted to private schools, Working Films…
Working Films is excited to be a Community Partner of the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI)’s 10th Annual Media That Matters Conference in Washington, DC February 6 -7, 2014. Media That Matters is an annual symposium presented by the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University. It is designed for established and aspiring filmmakers, nonprofit communication leaders, funders, and students who want to learn and share cutting-edge practices to make their media matter. The conference opens Thursday February 6th with workshops on fair use of copyrighted…
Working Films’ home state of North Carolina gained national attention this year for its Moral Monday protests, when thousands gathered at the capitol building every Monday from April through July to protest the regressive actions of the state legislature. From cuts to unemployment insurance, to tax cuts for the state’s wealthiest citizens, loosening of environmental regulations, to suppressing the right to vote – a multitude of harsh new policies are threatening the social safety net, education, the economy, voting access, women’s health, and the environment. We’ve responded with a plan to…
Since 1999, Working Films has harnessed the humanity, power and vision of nonfiction filmmaking to educate viewers and mobilize communities for positive social change — at home, on the street, and in the halls where public policy gets made. We’re asking you to give today to support Working Films’ unique approach to making “stories lead to action.” 2013 has been a year of transition. In June we tragically lost Robert West, our beloved co-founder and executive director, to brain cancer. Although deeply saddened, we renewed our commitment to carry out…
Director Josh Fox is headed on a Southern Grassroots Tour with Gasland 2, the recent follow-up to his 2011 Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland. We are psyched to announce that as part of our Reel Power efforts we have teamed up with grassroots groups in Texas and North Carolina to co-host 4 stops on the tour. “Gasland 2 features real people – ordinary Americans – whose lives have been upended by the dirty and dangerous process of fracking.” Fox said. “That’s why I’m working with environmental leaders and advocates across the…
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