LATEST NEWS

Bidder 70 Saturday, 11:30am in room 406 Q&A with Peaceful Uprising Bidder 70 centers on an extraordinary, ingenious and effective act of civil disobedience demanding government and industry accountability. In 2008, University of Utah economics student Tim DeChristopher committed an act which would redefine patriotism in our time, igniting a spirit of civil disobedience in the name of climate justice. The film will be screened at Power Shift as part of the Reel Power film series today at 11:30 in room 406 with a Q&A with Peaceful Uprising advisory board member Lauren Wood. The film is being used on campuses as part of the students’ fossil fuel divestment campaigns, including Harvard where Tim DeChristopher is now attending divinity school. Although, last week, Harvard University President, Drew Faust, justified the university’s decision not to divest from the energy industry saying: "Harvard fights climate change through its research on it; Harvard needs fossil fuels to run its campus, so isn't divesting disingenuous?  Harvard should be an academic institution, not a political one." Tim’s response: "Drew Faust seeks a position of neutrality in a struggle where the powerful only ask that people like her remain neutral... She touts all the great research on climate change that is done at Harvard, but she ignores the fact that the fossil fuel industry actively works to suppress or distort every one of those efforts.” “The students’ call for divestment was a call for help by the young people who will reap the consequences of the climate crisis.” -Tim DeChristopher Bidder 70 has earned over 20 awards at film festivals and screened in communities churches, schools and colleges motivating groups and individuals to engage in peaceful direct action to secure a livable, sustainable future. Watch the film, discuss the issues and sign up to bring the film and filmmakers to your campus, community or place of worship. Bringing Tim DeChristopher's message of courage and commitment, Bidder 70 inspires individuals and groups to work together to create the change they want to see. Find more about Reel Power films at Reel-Power.org.

Gasland Part II, Saturday 11:30 am, room 407 Q&A with grassroots coordinator and film subject/local organizer Last night, Gasland Part II director Josh Fox told the Power Shift crowd, "There can be no democracy until we have freedom from fossil fuels." The audience couldn't agree more. The film will be screened as part of the Reel Power film series today at 11:30am in room 407 with a Q&A with Gasland’s grassroots coordinator Lee Ziesche and former Pittsburgh City Councilperson and Gasland Part II and The Sky is Pink subject, Doug Shields.     In this explosive follow-up to his Oscar-nominated film Gasland, filmmaker Josh Fox uses his trademark dark humor to take a deeper, broader look at the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil, now occurring on a global level (in 32 countries worldwide). Gasland Part II, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and broadcast on HBO, shows how the stakes have been raised on all sides in one of the most important environmental issues facing our nation today. The film argues that the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas, methane. In addition the film looks at how the powerful oil and gas industries are in Fox's words "contaminating our democracy". From the beginning, Gasland's been more than just a movement to protect our environment and health. This is a movement about protecting our democracy and right to decide the future of our country. Join us today to make sure decisions are made by the people and not the fossil fuel industries. Watch the film, discuss the issues and sign up to bring the film to your campus or community. Find more about Reel Power films at Reel-Power.org.

Reel Power brings you stories from the frontline of our energy future that will get your community talking and taking action. From a woman in Kentucky fighting for her homeplace against the ravages of mountaintop removal, to a Gulf Coast community banding together to save their land and culture - Reel Power films capture the voices of individuals and the strength of communities standing up for a just and sustainable future. Reel Power films will be featured during Power Shift. Bidder 70 and Gasland Part II will screen on Saturday at 11:30 am. On Sunday at 10:15 am we’ll show sneak peeks of Citizen Koch and Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek. Each screening will have the filmmaker or leading organizer to facilitate a discussion on the film and issues afterwards. You can also find us at the organizational fair.

Power Shift Screening Schedule Saturday at 11:30am Bidder 70 (room 406) Gasland Part II (room 407)

Sunday at 10:15am Citizen Koch (room 406) Come Hell or High Water (room 407)

    Get Involved with Reel Power! Take a bit of Power Shift back to your campus, community, or place of worship by hosting a screening of one or more of these powerful films to engage and activate your audience! Go to Reel-Power.org to choose a film, or films, and sign up to host a screening.

To jumpstart our efforts to support state-based work to address climate change, we’ve partnered with filmmaker Josh Fox, state level organizations, and local grassroots groups to host special screenings of Gasland 2 in Texas and North Carolina - two battlegrounds in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) debate.

[caption id="attachment_2754" align="aligncenter" width="428"] Image from @gaslandmovie on Twitter with tweet reading: Dear @barackobama & @governorperry we're from Fort Worth #NotFromGasland pic.twitter.com/cImwX84Csa[/caption] The tour started in Texas, where the film filled theaters in San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. Fox moderated Q&A sessions that spotlighted subjects of the film and groups that have been organizing against fracking. “Many of the areas that face increasing drought are the same areas where fracking operations continue to use millions of gallons of water. Texas, the nation's third-largest agricultural producer and one of the states growing in population most rapidly, cannot continue to sustain such disastrous water losses,” said Alyssa Burgin, director of the Texas Drought Project and co-host of the recent Texas screenings. On Monday, October 7th the tour stops in North Carolina where it is co-hosted by Reel Power and Clean Water for NC, a science based environmental justice advocacy group, with the aim to grow the anti-fracking movement in NC at this critical time. There is currently a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the state that will last until 2015 while regulations are being developed. “Public awareness about fracking—its impacts on water, air, land, and vulnerable communities—is growing fast in North Carolina,” says Hope Taylor, exec. director of Clean Water for NC, “thanks to the power of the first Gasland movie and the research and outreach of many grassroots groups. We are learning so much from the experience of communities in Pennsylvania who were promised years of prosperity and are now experiencing the “bust”, as well as water contamination and community disruption, and from folks in Texas around drilling and compressor stations where poisoned air is causing grave health concerns ignored by regulators, or in Colorado, where recent flooding has broken pipelines, and inundated well pads and condensate tanks.” The public is invited to attend this free event, which will take place at 7:00 PM on October 7 at Durham’s Carolina Theatre at 309 W Morgan St. To reserve a free ticket, please visit https://gasland2nc.eventbrite.com/.    

Reel Power is excited to announce that our films will be part of the 2013 Power Shift conference.

Power Shift is the world’s largest youth gathering and training for climate change solutions. This year more than ten thousand youth leaders from every walk of life — college students, young environmental justice leaders, DREAMers, young people of faith, young workers — will come together to learn from one another, to build and launch strategic campaigns in their own communities. Reel Power films will be featured during Saturday and Sunday of the conference and the Reel Power filmmakers, featured subjects and key organizers will participate in post-screening Q&As. We will be screening Bidder 70, Gasland Part II, Come Hell or High Water, and Working Films’ Reel Economy film Citizen Koch. Together these films paint the bigger picture of climate change, highlight grassroots leadership and community power, as well as give audiences new avenues to explore the influence of money in politics. Here's the program: Saturday, October 19th, 11:30 AM Bidder 70 (room 406) Gasland Part II (room 407) Sunday October 20th, 10:15 AM Citizen Koch (sneak peek) (room 406) Come Hell or High Water (sneak peek) (room 407) Make sure you come out to Pittsburgh and join over 10,000 youth leaders from across the country as we take a stand for the planet - Register for Power Shift today!

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 country to protect our health, water, climate and landscapes and to prevent state and federal governments from allowing a path to destruction. We need to educate ourselves and our elected leaders and ban this toxic practice and move vigorously toward renewable energy." The film was recently broadcast on HBO and folks are keenly anticipating the release of the DVD for wide-spread community and educational screenings. “The timing and profile of the film will really help us shine the spotlight on the urgent efforts and actions by groups working on the ground,” stated Kristin Henry, who is leading the Reel Power efforts with Working Films. Here are the details for the Texas and North Carolina Gasland 2 screenings! SEPTEMBER 26TH San Antonio, TX
 Northwest 14 Santikos Theatre 7600 I-10 West, San Antonio, TX 78230 6:30 PM Co-hosted by The Texas Drought Project, together with Clean Water Action Texas, Earthworks' Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project, Solar San Antonio and Working Films' Reel Power. Followed by Q&A with Josh Fox and organizations. Reserve Tickets Here: https://gasland2sanantonio.eventbrite.com/ SEPTEMBER 27TH
 Dallas, TX
 Historic Texas Theatre 231 W Jefferson Blvd  Dallas, TX 75208 7:30 PM (doors 7:00 PM) Co-hosted by The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League, Working Films' Reel Power, and The Texas Theatre. Followed by Q&A with Josh Fox and organizations. Reserve Tickets Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/8173829143 SEPTEMBER 28TH 
Fort Worth, TX
 Ridglea Theatre 6025 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76116 7:00 PM (doors 6:00 PM) Co-hosted by Working Films' Reel Power, Earthworks' Oil & Gas Accountability Project; Texas Drought Project; North Central Texas Communities Alliance; FWCANDO. With special appearances by Gasland subjects Deborah Rogers, Calvin Tillman and Steven Lipsky. Followed by Q&A with Josh Fox and organizations. OCTOBER 7TH Durham, NC 7:00 PM (doors 6:00 PM) Carolina Theater, Fletcher Hall 309 West Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701 Co-hosted by Clean Water for NC and Working Films' Reel Power. Followed by Q&A with Josh Fox and organizations. Reserve tickets here: http://gasland2nc.eventbrite.com/   For more information about Gasland 2 and the dangers of fracking, please visit gaslandthemovie.com. For more info on Reel Power visit reel-power.org

We’re excited to announce ScreeningHQ - a new platform powered by Working Films that gives you access to award winning and groundbreaking documentaries to screen in your community, on campus, and in targeted showings to influence change. ScreeningHQ includes tools and resources to pull in audiences and move them to act. Use the site to organize your screening events, get viewers involved, highlight your efforts, and build your base of support. Sign up, today! As a way to broaden the selection of high quality story-driven documentaries available on ScreeningHQ, we've partnered with New Day Films. The New Day Films collection uncovers and exposes some of the most pressing issues facing our nation and the world and offers leaders and advocates powerful resources for communicating and catalyzing change. “Having a one-stop shop will make it so much easier for community groups to access the film and supporting materials for a rocking good screening and discussion,” says New Day filmmaker Greta Schiller, whose film No Dinosaurs in Heaven is one of 18 inaugural films in the collection. “I am thrilled to be a part of Working Films’ ScreeningHQ because it places my film on creationism and the science classroom within a body of work that looks at education issues,” Schiller says. ScreeningHQ offers one place to order the film, set up your screening, access flyers, posters and guides, and get the word out. Find films, host a screening, make an impact!

  The new documentary, The Campaign will air in a wave of broadcasts across public television on Sunday August 25th. Immediately following each broadcast, The Campaign team will host an online Google Hangout to connect with viewers in each city with local organizations in their region, including: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Our Family Coalition, PFLAG, and ACLU Northern California. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Christie Herring, The Campaign takes a heartbreaking and inspiring look at California’s No-on-8 Campaign to defend same-sex marriage, which unfolded in 2008.  The film was included in our Reel Equality campaign to help fight NC’s bigoted Amendment One, which added a state constitutional ban on gay marriage. During the fight over Amendment One, the film was still in production and so we only had a trailer to work from.  Now the film is finished, and we’re excited to see the full impact it will make.  With the recent changes on the fronts of both Proposition 8 and DOMA, a cross-country broadcast wave for a film on marriage equality is timely for public television viewers. According to filmmaker Christie Herring, “We are thrilled to wrap our public television broadcasts with Google Hangouts across the country. Although we cannot be in each city at the same time, we can connect with viewers no matter where they are. We are also honored to work with local community partners in each of these states. Civic engagement, equality, and family are at the heart of The Campaign and at the heart of the daily work of these local organizations.” Make sure to catch The Campaign on Sunday August 25th on public television. Click here for more information on screenings and don't forget to continue the conversations on Google Hangout.