Take Action with Speaking in Tongues!

Act Now! Join the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language to encourage your decision makers to support HR 6036. HR 6036, the Excellence and Innovation in Language Learning Act, was proposed by Congressional Representatives Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) on August 1, 2010. This legislation would allow every young American to become proficient in English and a second language within a generation. Learn more about the bill from the Asia Society.

The Good Pitch @ SOCAP10

Working Films, in collaboration with The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, is delighted to announce the first West Coast edition of the Good Pitch, hosted by the SOCAP10 conference at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on October 3, 2010 12:00pm – 6:00pm. The Social Capital Markets Conference (SOCAP) is the world’s premiere social capital markets event. The conference highlights the growing field of social capital: people investing to create social change. SOCAP10’s goal is to make connections, to generate partnerships and to increase…

European Social Documentary (ESoDoc)

On October 2 – 8th, I will be in Catania, Italy for the third session of the European Social Documentary training, commonly called ESoDoc, an initiative offered by ZeLIG School for Documentary and supported by the European Union’s MEDIA Program. ESoDoc explores wholly new terrain for EU filmmakers and brings together the demands of different players now involved in documentary film production and distribution, including directors and producers, non-government and non profit-making organizations (NGOs and NPOs), television broadcasters and the growing range of New Media professionals creating both web-documentaries and…

Reel Power at Appalachia Rising

Reel Power, a new collaboration of films on energy and natural resource extraction developed from our Reel Engagement residency, will be part of Appalachia Rising, a mass mobilization calling for the end of mountaintop removal mining to be held in Washington, DC, on September 25-27, 2010. We will co-host a resource booth with a number of other remarkable filmmakers, participate in a media workshop on Saturday, and host a Working Films workshop on how to use the collection of Reel Power films to engage communities in ways that lead audiences…

Get Engaged with Reel Engagement!

Are you interested in developing skills to effectively manage film campaigns on social justice issues? If so, you should apply to our latest Reel Engagement workshop, Managing Social Issue Film Campaigns, which we designed with the Fledgling Fund. This 4 day hands-on workshop is designed for individuals who are interested in developing the skills necessary to be Engagement Coordinators; designing and managing creative and impactful audience and community engagement campaigns for independent social issue documentary films or media projects. Read more and apply now! Deadline is October 22, 2010

The Good Pitch UK

Working Films, in collaboration with The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, is delighted to announce the second edition of the London Good Pitch UK. The Good Pitch UK will take place at the spectacular Royal Institution of Great Britain on September 10th. The event is made possible by the generous support of Amnesty International, The Co-operative, Edelman, PUMA.Creative, and The Wellcome Trust. Working Films is providing early campaign development for the accepted films; a number of the filmmakers attended our Films for Good workshop in…

Film Screening of Speaking in Tongues Sept 12th

What would it be like if you put your children in a school where the teacher spoke a foreign language? Speaking in Tongues follows the experience of 4 kids in language immersion grade schools. Come watch this award winning film and support Californians Together, a statewide coalition of parents, teachers, education advocates and civil rights groups committed to securing equal access to quality education for all children. $4 from each ticket sold will be donated to their “Seal of Biliteracy” campaign. September 12th 3:00pm – 5:00pm @ Aero Theatre (1328…

Films for Good: We think they like us

From a pool of over 70 films, eight filmmaker teams attended our Films for Good workshop, 23 – 25 July, in Islington, London. Designed by Channel 4 BRITDOC and Working Films UK, the workshop took first steps in developing effective strategic community and audience engagement campaigns for the films, supported by non-traditional distribution strategies. Sarah Mosses, of our team in London, developed some early plans for each film’s campaign with a suggested range of potential partners – including leading NGOs and some corporate brands. We had a mixture of projects…

Dirty Business in Kansas

There is a debate heating up in Kansas about the proposed expansion of the Holcomb Station coal-fired power plant. Proponents of Sunflower Electric Power’s plant expansion cite the need to meet the growing load requirement in the region. Opponents argue that Kansas has the nation’s second-best wind resource and that in the long run, renewable energy can meet energy requirements at lower cost to rate payers and to the environment. The Kansas Department of Health & Environment’s (KDHE) has hosted three public hearings this week to listen to the voices…

Hey, It’s Personal!

It’s Wednesday evening after another steamy day on the NC coast, with the temperature still close to 100. I have just poured a crisp, cool glass of white wine, and am scanning the Internet, waiting to hear about Judge Walker’s decision on Prop 8, and the fight to repeal the ban of gay marriages in CA. My cell rings, it’s my (straight) friend Liz, “Hey! We won! I just heard on NPR! They overturned Prop 8.” Wow. While not unexpected, suddenly I am short of breath. Imagine the impact: this…