LATEST NEWS

In an OpEd in the New York Daily News, No Impact Man Colin Beavan tackles the connection between our consumption-based economy and the BP oil spill. He opens his piece comparing oil to alcohol: Question: When an alcoholic leaves a bar, gets behind the wheel and drunkenly drives into his third or fourth wreck, do you blame the bartender who served the drinks or the alcoholic who drank them? Now answer this: When a society addicted to greater and greater fossil fuel use experiences what may amount to the largest oil spill in world history - after a growing number of other fossil fuel catastrophes - do you blame the oil company that drilled for the oil or the society that uses it? Colin goes on to provide examples of how we might find ourselves being guilty of over consuming fossil fuels. He states, “Typically, our knee-jerk is to blame the greedy corporations and do-nothing politicians. But how much more could be accomplished if each American accepted that he or she plays a part in the problem and therefore could contribute to the solution?” The No Impact Project challenges us to take a step back and look at our lifestyles to see where we can make less of a carbon foot print on earth by using as little energy as possible. Through the experiment, people realize that they can live fulfilling lives without the things they take for granted everyday. For more information about the No Impact project and to participate in the experiment, visit www.noimpactproject.org. Watch the video below to see the impact of the No Impact Week Project:

Chicken & Egg Pictures and Rooftop Films have joined together to offer a short film grant of $6000 to women filmmakers. Any filmmaker who has ever screened at Rooftop Films, or who has ever applied for or received support from Chicken & Egg Pictures is eligible to apply. For more information on what to include in your application, please visit Chicken & Egg Pictures. Application deadline is August 3, 2010.

One of our former board members, Jon Stout, was recently awarded the 2010 Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award by the Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Jon co-founded Free Speech TV, an organization that works tirelessly to cultivate an informed and active citizenry while promoting voices and perspectives that have been under-represented in commercial media. We’d also like to welcome Jon’s newest addition to his family, Farryn Welkin Barnstead Stout.

A few months ago, Working Films consulted with the filmmakers of A New Kind of Listening and Speaking in Tongues about the redesign of their websites. Their new websites launched just in time for summer and we are impressed by the outcome! See the transformation for yourself by clicking on the before and after images below! A New Kind of Listening BEFORE: AFTER: Speaking in Tongues BEFORE: AFTER:

Whew, just back from Washington DC and the Good Pitch @ Silverdocs, where it was hot hot hot – both inside the Performing Arts Center with an amazing lineup of films and responses from funders, NGOs, and strategists, and outside, where the temp hovered around 99. Jess Search, of C4 BRITDOC, set up a time lapse camera to capture the day: If you missed out on the pitches, you can catch a play by play glimpse on Twitter and Facebook. Also, check out these recaps from the Silverdocs Blog and the Center for Social Media. The Good Pitch is a project of The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation in partnership with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. It is made possible by Fledgling Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Tides Foundation, the Hartley Film Foundation and anonymous donors. Campaign development and training for filmmakers provided by Working Films.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="497" caption="Reel Engagement participants and facilitators, from left to right: Robbie Gemmel, Josh Levin, Rennifer Redfearn, Lora Smith, Kristin Henry, Taira Akbar, Deb Anderson, Josh Fox, Emily Verellen, Judith Helfand, Jen Gilomen, Amanda Berger, Natalie Difford, Peter Bull. Photo courtesy of Peter Bull."][/caption] During Reel Engagement for the Energy and Natural Resource Revolution, we spent a week drilling down deep (excuse the pun) into audience engagement plans with filmmakers, coordinators, and non-profit organizations on energy and natural resource extraction issues. We’ll be updating you shortly on our website with exciting collaboration plans. Below are photos from the retreat.

This edition of the Good Pitch takes place at Silverdocs, near Washington DC. It brings together inspiring social-purpose film projects and a group of expert participants from charities, foundations, brands and media to form powerful alliances around groundbreaking films. THE LINEUP We are delighted to announce that we have selected the lineup for the Good Pitch @ Silverdocs. The 8 filmmakers are Victor Buhler (A Whole Lott More), Macky Alston (The Truth Will Set You Free), Jon Shenk (Higher Ground), Angad Bhalla (The House That Herman Built), Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza (Dear Mandela), Steve James & Alex Kotlowitz (The Interrupters), Danfung Dennis (To Hell and Back Again), and Annika Gustafson & Phil Jandaly ($H*T). Selected from 150 excellent submissions, the eight projects cover an exciting range of subjects including war & conflict, disability employment, LGBT equality, incarceration and solitary confinement, violence prevention and mediation, climate change and green energy. These issues are explored through stories that play out the world over - in the USA, Afghanistan, the Maldives, South Africa and Kenya. More on the projects: A Whole Lott More Dir. Victor Buhler Lott Industries in Ohio, USA employs 1200 workers with developmental disabilities. For decades, the company has built car parts. However, with the decline of the auto industry, Lott Industries finds itself in trouble. The company has twelve months to reinvent itself. A Whole Lott More details the most crucial year in Lott Industries’ history and follows three inspiring workers with disabilities as they join the struggle to hold onto the best job they have ever had. The Truth Will Set You Free Dir. Macky Alston The story of a man whose two defining passions are in great conflict: his love for God and his love for his partner Mark. This film follows Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay partnered bishop in the high church traditions of Christendom, and a host of others who are making history and whose lives hang in the balance of the current church/state battles for LGBT equality. Higher Ground Dir. Jon Shenk His nation of 1,200 low-lying islands is sinking as sea levels rise. Higher Ground is a film about Mohammed Nasheed, President of The Maldives, and his extraordinary role in the global climate war. During his first year in office, we follow as Nasheed breathlessly carries the fight to chambers of power in London, the United Nations, India, and finally to Copenhagen for ten intense days in December, 2009. This drama pits a die-hard activist for human rights – Nasheed himself was imprisoned and tortured as he fought for democracy in the Maldives – against the nasty geopolitical realities of the growing climate debate. The House That Herman Built Dir. Angad Bhalla “What kind of house does a man who has been imprisoned in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell for over 30 years dream of?” This film captures the remarkable creative journey and friendship of Herman Wallace, one of the Angola 3, and artist Jackie Sumell while examining the injustice of prolonged solitary confinement. Dear Mandela Dirs Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza Dear Mandela chronicles the journey of three young leaders whose communities face mass eviction as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Enacting a policy eerily reminiscent of apartheid-era repression, the government is attempting to ‘eradicate the slums’ by using armed demolition crews to forcefully remove families from their homes at gunpoint. Dear Mandela tells the story of democratic South Africa’s largest organization of poor people, a non-violent movement to stop the bulldozers that are literally tearing apart lives and communities. From the chaos on the streets to the highest court in the land, this new generation is putting Nelson Mandela’s promise of a ‘better life for all’ to the test. The Interrupters Prod/Dir Steve James Prod/Writer, Alex Kotlowitz The Interrupters tells the remarkable story of a group of men and women in Chicago whose singular mission is to prevent shootings. They’re part of an innovative program run by an infectious disease doctor who views violence through the prism of public health. These men and women, most of them former gang leaders and drug dealers who have been participants in the brutality of the streets, are our guides into the discomfiting and unsettling gunplay in America’s cities. To Hell & Back Again Dir. Danfung Dennis The intensely personal story of Sergeant Harris and Marine battalion Echo Company from the start of the 2009 tour of Afghanistan to their return, the decompression and rehabilitation in the US. A study of exceptional bravery and loss, of friends and family struggling to support the returning warriors. $H*T! Dir. Annika Gustafson $H*T! is an auteur, character-driven film following radical solutions that turn human waste into green energy, and the pioneers who drive them. Filmed in Kenya’s Kibera slum, the film opens up possibilities for a whole new green and clean world and a better future for the world’s 2.6 billion people who lack access to sanitation. From the bottom of the poverty ladder to the heights of power, $H*T! shows a transformation in thinking, where human waste is not a problem - it’s a resource. ABOUT THE GOOD PITCH The Good Pitch is a project of The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation in partnership with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. It is made possible by Fledgling Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Tides Foundation, the Hartley Film Foundation and anonymous donors. Campaign development and training for filmmakers provided by Working Films. ABOUT SILVERDOCS AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is a six-day internationally recognised event that honors excellence in filmmaking, supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary to improve our understanding of the world. Now in its eighth year, the 2010 festival runs June 22–27 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in the Washington, DC area. The 2009 Festival featured 122 films from more than 60 countries and attracted over 27,000 attendees, including the influential audiences of the nation’s capital and media professionals from around the world. The concurrent five-day AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs International Documentary Conference presents thought-provoking presentations and engages a diverse group of over 1,000 filmmakers and industry leaders concerned with the future of non-fiction storytelling, production and distribution. For more information, go to http://www.Silverdocs.com.

Join us for an inspiring weekend workshop designed to jump start campaigns for a limited number of excellent social issue documentaries on the 23rd-25th, July 2010. Outcomes include the identification of a range of potential outreach partners – including leading non-profits and social entrepreneurs as well as corporate and branding agencies. The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Working Films designed this workshop to create effective and strategic outreach campaigns and non-traditional distribution plans – reaching the audiences who need these films. Working Films’ co-founders Robert West and Judith Helfand and their team have masterminded campaigns behind feature docs such as Rory Kennedy's Emmy Award-winning The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and Helfland's Everything's Cool, resulting in significant shifts in the marketplace, public and political opinion in the US. Working Films' new full-time partnership with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation brings this high-level expertise to the UK filmmaking community. The aim of the workshop is to help you: • Develop audience and community engagement strategies • Identify potential strategic partners (i.e. charities, NGOs and brands) • Form an outreach strategy specific to your film • Leverage and extend the life of your film • Make social networking work for you INSURE IMPACT! Each project will leave the Workshop with an outline of activities and proposed partners appropriate for pre-release, release and post-release to give your film a long and effective life. Find out more about the application process and APPLY NOW! Deadline is Monday 28 June, 2010