The powerful documentary film, A New Kind of Listening will play one night only—Thursday, October 15, at 7:30 pm at the Carolina Theatre’s historic Fletcher Hall in downtown Durham, NC, located at 309 W. Morgan St., Durham 27701. The event is free and open to the public and the theater is wheelchair accessible. A New Kind of Listening follows Chris Mueller-Medlicott, a young man with cerebral palsy who was mislabeled profoundly mentally retarded because he could not speak. Chris breaks through into stunning self-expression in this moving and inspiring film.…
Launching nation-wide on October 15th, the Garbage Dreams‘ Tour is a community-based screening campaign aimed at demonstrating the true value of trash and the cost of throwing out the expertise of the Zaballeen, Egypt’s “garbage people,” who recycle 80% of everything they collect. Get involved by hosting a screening with the community screening package! “Garbage Dreams is a moving story of young men searching for ways to eke out a living for their families and facing tough choices as they try to do the right thing for the planet. Mai Iskander…
Will you go No Impact for a week? Come on, it’s only a week. Huffington Post has partnered with the No Impact Project to bring No Impact Week to their readers on October 18th. This summer, Working Films hosted a strategy summit for No Impact Man in preparation for Colin’s highly anticipated book, award winning blog, and companion documentary about his family’s year long experiment in sustainability. The summit brought together the creative energies of the No Impact Project with leading environmental organizations such as 350.org, 1Sky, Alliance for Climate…
Chicken & Egg Pictures and Working Films along with our special guest presenter The Fledgling Fund invite you to join us at Story Leads To Action – a monthly series at the 92YTribeca Screening Room. On Thursday, October 15th at 7:30 pm we’re kicking-off the 2009-2010 series with a celebratory screening of the Academy Award-winning Freeheld, directed by Cynthia Wade. This evening will celebrate how and why power of short film and a rigorous community engagement campaign can make a difference. Lieutenant Laurel Hester is dying. All she wants to…
I was invited to be on the jury for the Matter Documentary Award at the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival this past weekend. (That’s the Jersey that is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France – not New Jersey in the U.S.) The Matter Award goes to the “best socially conscious” documentary film in the fest. It includes £2000 to the filmmaker, plus £1,000 to a charity of the winner’s choice. The nominees were quite extraordinary, including Burma VJ, The End of the Line, Only When I…
Fundraising for documentary films is never easy. One source filmmakers often overlook are local and statewide funders and arts councils in particular. For our colleagues in North Carolina, here’s a great opportunity. The North Carolina Arts Council offers grants of $10,000 to NC film/video artists through its fellowship program to support the creative development of North Carolina artists and to generate the creation of new work. If you receive a fellowship you may use the grant to: Set aside time to work Pursue projects that further artistic development and support…
Matthew Nisbet discusses the growing influence of documentary film and the various approaches of audience engagement campaigns in his post Recent Research on Impacts of Documentary Film on ScienceBlogs. He offers a preview into the forthcoming issue of a special issue of the journal Mass Communication & Society that he co-edited with American University colleague Patricia Aufderheide. One of the three films discussed includes Working Films’ very own Blue Vinyl audience engagement campaign, where Nisbet and Aufderheide writes: A very different approach was used by Judith Helfand and Dan Gold…
Working Films is proud to announce the films and filmmakers that have been selected for our Real Girls, Reel Change workshop. Real Girls, Reel Change is an innovative new platform that will nurture the work of filmmakers, non-profit organizations, and funders that are focused on supporting the physical, emotional, and social well being of girls and young women. We understand that real impact takes time and strategic use of many types of resources, and we’ve developed Real Girls, Reel Change in order to explore the idea that it takes more…
We are always excited to hear about the development of filmmakers’ audience engagement plans and to see how ideas and energy from residencies have transformed into film campaigns. I recently received an update from Dawn Valadez with Going on 13 that I thought I’d share. From Tweety Bird to Bow Wow, double dutch to chat rooms, Daddy’s girls to first deceptions, watch as Ariana, Isha, Rosie, and Esme let go of childhood and fumble — or sprint — toward an uncertain future. This is puberty and for each of these…
Last month, Kristin and I attended the kickoff for the Community Engagement Through Film course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our own co-founder, Judith Helfand, is the resident filmmaker teaching the course this semester along with Gregg Mitman of The Nelson Institute’s Center for Culture, History and the Environment. This course is built entirely on Working Films’ M.O. – How can the movie be in service of the movement? There are eight films that the students are focusing on, and they are appropriately linked up with community partners who work…
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