Inspired by Education Organizers at the CPER Convening

Recently, I spent two days at the Communities for Public Education Reform (CPER) convening, an amazing gathering of grassroots education organizers and the foundations that support their work. I went to support the Reel Education filmmakers and others who were leading a panel discussion, “Moving Hearts and Minds: Connecting Filmmaking and Organizing.” Because of their experience at the Reel Education convening in February, Ly Nguyen of CPER and Roberta Furger of PICO CA, organized the session. They pulled together a great team that included filmmakers, Roland Legiardi Laura of To…

The “Pink Sheep” of the family

Growing up as a queer teenager in the South was very confusing and isolating. Often, I heard my parents refer to out of the ordinary members of our family as “black sheep.” A part of me always sided with the black sheep because a majority of the time I felt misunderstood. Fast forward 10 years later to present day when I am confident and proud of my identity. So much, in fact, that I started getting involved in LGBTQ activism and organized a night of film devoted to others who…

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front at Sheffield Doc/Fest

Story Leads to Action Sheffield Doc/Fest Venue: The Crucible Studio Friday, June 10, 10:00am Moderators: Working Films co-founders Robert West & Judith Helfand Story Leads to Action makes the process of community engagement interactive and transparent. Join Working Films UK and Sheffield Doc/Fest as we craft the first steps in an interactive campaign for Marshall Curry’s new film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Award-winning Guardian journalist Paul Lewis, Greenpeace’s Senior Climate Adviser Charlie Kronick, UK Uncut’s Adam Ramsay and John Stewart (credited with stopping…

Closing out Story Leads to Action with Monica & David

Monica & David by Alexandra Codina May 19th 7:30pm At 92Y Tribeca (New York, NY) Closing out the 2010-2011 season, Monica & David is the love story of two adults with Down syndrome, and the family who strives to support their needs. Full of humor, romance and everyday family drama, Monica and David want what every adult wants—an independent life. Winner of the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, and an audience favorite at festivals around the world. Directed and produced by Monica’s cousin, first-time filmmaker,…

Reel Power at Power Shift

“We’re here at Power Shift. We get down to business. We get down to action.” – JOSH FOX, Director of Gasland Before a packed house of 8,000 youth climate activists, Gasland Director Josh Fox welcomed the enthusiastic crowd with his banjo and a call to action. Josh’s message was simple – natural gas is not a transition fuel away from coal, and we must stand united for truly clean alternatives. Josh was at Power Shift, a national gathering of over 10,000 high school and college climate justice organizers. Along with…

The Good Pitch heads to NYC

The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, in partnership with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, is bringing the Good Pitch to NYC on May 20th 2011. The pitch will be hosted at the Ford Foundation as they join the Tides Foundation, the Fledgling Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Impact Partners, Crosscurrents Foundation and a number of anonymous donors as supporters. Working Films will continue to provide campaign development for the invited filmmakers. Eight documentary projects were selected out of hundreds of applications. The selected filmmakers and their projects are: Gideon’s Army…

IMPACT: The Power of Youth

“New generations of people in this country should see disability as just a natural part of the diversity of our culture.” – Filmmaker of Including Samuel, Dan Habib Including Samuel: The Power of Youth brings us behind the scenes of a youth summit, inspired by a Working Films strategy meeting and co-organized by filmmaker Dan Habib. This summit created an audience engagement campaign for Including Samuel that has extended the life and reach of the film. Teen-focused and teen-led, the “I am Norm” campaign was developed by young people for…

Making the Most of Interns – An Interview with Stephanie Bleyer

STEPHANIE BLEYER produces engagement campaigns and raises funds for social issue documentaries. Some of her current and past clients include Academy Award nominees Gasland and Sun Come Up, BBC’s Why Poverty?, The Documentary Group’s 10×10, Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure, Planet Green’s No Impact Man, PBS’ To Be Heard and OWN’s One Lucky Elephant. Stephanie has studied organic farming in Italy, bicycled across Cuba on a grant to study sustainable energy, created a documentary for Oxygen about her social action bicycle trip from Seattle to Washington D.C., produced a 35-city…

Reel Power April: Sun Come Up

Sun Come Up is an Oscar-nominated short documentary that follows the relocation of some of 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. When rising seas threaten their survival, the islanders face a painful decision: they must leave their beloved land in search of a new place to call home. The film follows a group of young Carteret Islanders led by Nick Hakata as they search for land in Bougainville, an autonomous…

Reel Power @ PowerShift

Reel Power is excited to announce that our films will be part of the 2011 Power Shift program from April 15-18 in Washington D.C. This year’s Power Shift will feature Vice President Al Gore, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Green Jobs leader Van Jones, 350.org founder Bill McKibben, and a Reel Power film festival! Power Shift is the world’s largest youth gathering and training for climate change solutions. This year the conference will serve as the largest grassroots organizing training in history with the goals of catalyzing the clean energy economy,…