The 2022 Rural Cinema Cohort

Rural Cinema is a program that trains environmental justice organizers to use film screenings to bring people together and solve challenges facing their communities. The program provides grassroots groups and organizations with film screening equipment by EPIC Outdoor Cinema (projectors, screens, speakers), solar batteries to run the equipment, and funding to host a film series that can inform and inspire people to get involved in their efforts. Recognizing the importance of documentary storytelling to prompt civic dialogue and action during a time when rural areas across the country are increasingly…

2021 Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab

The Works-in-Progress Lab (WiP) is a partnership between Cucalorus and Working Films that supports the audience engagement and impact strategies of social issue documentaries being made by Black filmmakers. The week-long residency is a key program of the annual Cucalorus. Five filmmakers receive extensive community feedback during a series of public and private screenings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations with expert mentors. The following documentary films were selected for the 2021 WiP lab: 2021 Works-in-Progress Lab Participants Little Sallie Walker by Marta Effinger-Crichlow Play is a lifeline for Black girls across the…

We’re Hiring A Communications Lead!

WORKING FILMS is seeking a Communications Lead with a passion for social justice, documentary film, and the power of storytelling to join our team! This position will participate in strategic communications planning and implementation, lead press and media relations, manage Working Films’ website and social media posting, produce our monthly newsletter, and develop compelling organizational collateral. The Communications Lead will also work to support all staff in contributing to and implementing communications strategies that feature inspiring stories of our work. This is a full time (32 hours, 4 days per…

Announcing Rural Cinema 2022

As rural communities across the US are increasingly devastated by the cascading crises of a global pandemic coupled with stronger and more frequent climate disasters, civil discourse about the environmental and public health challenges in non-urban communities has also broken down. A recent study conducted by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke found that “While many rural voters voiced concern about climate change (and particularly its disproportionate impact on rural communities), they were generally reticent to talk about it with their friends and neighbors given the polarization…

Announcing 2021 Impact Kickstart

Now in its fourth year, Working Films’ Impact Kickstart program has helped underrepresented filmmakers create strategic goals for impact and specific plans to engage future partners, funders, and audiences in meaningful ways. This year, we will be providing $30,000 in impact campaign funding to each recipient, in addition to our in-kind services. Impact Kickstart recipients will use these grants toward the implementation of each film’s impact campaign. In reflection about the evolution of Impact Kickstart, Gerry Leonard, who now leads the program says, “In all of our work, we prioritize…

The 2021 Rural Cinema Cohort

Rural Cinema is a training institute and community engagement program resourcing leaders from rural areas and small towns across the United States to use films in their work for environmental justice and protection. The program supports participants in holding screening events that engage their communities and advance their goals over the course of one year. Rural Cinema creates spaces for residents to come together (in-person or virtually), discuss issues affecting their communities, learn and be inspired by the visual content and one another’s experiences, and generate solutions that address their…

ANNOUNCING THE 2021 DOCS IN ACTION FILM FUND RECIPIENTS

The history of the prison industrial complex is rooted in slavery and colonization, with an inherent purpose of reinforcing oppressive social and economic injustices. It’s driven by market forces that use surveillance, policing, violence and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social, and political problems. It is exacted by police officers, guards, ICE officers, and others that enforce state violence. Brutality and racism has always been the norm. The system is working how it was designed, and reform measures will always fall short.  To illuminate these realities and get to a…

Now Hiring: Grant Writer & Administrator (PT Contract, Remote)

Working Films is seeking a highly organized, flexible part-time contract grant writer and administrator. The ideal candidate has a passion for social justice and can create compelling narratives that communicate enthusiasm about our work and the role of documentary film in environmental and racial justice movements. In addition to drafting grant proposals, the grant writer and administrator will be responsible for managing the administrative side of the grants cycle, ensuring that deadlines are successfully met and project milestones are well communicated with funders.  Working Films will be hiring a full-time…

The Movement Space – Recordings from Sundance Film Festival

Working Films hosted three events during the 2021 Sundance Film Festival at our virtual venue, THE MOVEMENT SPACE. These conversations examined power, collaboration, accountability, and the magic of film as a catalyst for radical imagination and action. Click below to watch them now! BUILDING POWER THROUGH CREATIVE COLLABORATION A conversation about building collective power through creative collaboration. The Rise-Home Stories Project is a group of multimedia storytellers and housing and land justice advocates who are coming together to reimagine the past, present, and future of our communities by transforming the…

NC Humanities and Working Films Partner on Revisioning Recovery Tour

North Carolina Humanities and Working Films have collaborated on an exclusive version of Revisioning Recovery: Films Uncovering the Roots of Disaster, a limited-time documentary and discussion series for communities in North Carolina.  Revisioning Recovery features a collection of five short films that tell environmental disaster recovery stories and examine historical inequities that worsen when disasters hit. Sponsored by North Carolina Humanities, these free events will also include interactive, post-screening discussions. The first screening event will take place on February 17, hosted by Alamance Community College with upcoming events happening in…