Reel Action to Real Action: A Showcase of Activism and Film
Starts: Friday, Jul. 18 11:00 AM (Eastern)
Ends: Friday, Jul. 18 12:15 PM (Eastern)
Screening Showcases present several films in one session, by showing 10-15 minutes of each, and then inviting a presenter of each film to participate in a moderated discussion with time for audience participation.
This session will include:
- How Minnesota Went from No to Yes on Marriage Equality
- Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream
- The New Hampshire Rebellion: The First 480,000 Steps for Reform
- Tested
(line-up subject to change)
More on our films:
How Minnesota Went from No to Yes on Marriage Equality.
Minnesota was the first state to stop the passage of an amendment writing marriage discrimination into its constitution; then, just a few months later, the state legalized same-sex marriage. Just a few months before the 2012 election, polls showed the amendment defining marriage as “one man, one woman” would pass easily. So how did this amazing turnaround happen? For more than three years The UpTake chronicled the events that led to this stunning reversal. In the movie, we talk to the organizers on how they made this happen; we see the messages that made the difference, and the tense drama that unfolded in the Minnesota legislative chambers. It’s an incredibly uplifting story that will leave you cheering as the good guys win and love conquers all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev7dhw9sI8s
Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream.
Caught in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, Patrick Lovell, one of 10 million people who lost their homes, finds himself asking why he and so many Americans were blindsided by the economy’s implosion. How could his pursuit of the American Dream — starting a business, providing for his new family and owning a home — drive him to financial ruin?
Coinciding with the exponential growth of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, Lovell embarks on a cross-country journey to discover what happened to the America originally founded to be free from tyranny. Conversations with a broad spectrum of energy and political academics, OWS protestors, professional developers, real estate agents and attorneys all lead to the same conclusion: the system is broken.
FORWARD 13 provides a fresh, personal perspective on the mortgage crisis and its ties to big government. And while the road to recovery is a long and difficult one, there are clear, sustainable methods to revive the American Dream. http://vimeo.com/album/2609975
The New Hampshire Rebellion: The First 480,000 Steps for Reform
This film documents their 190 mile journey this January — the first of three planned between now and 2016.
Tested
Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech: some of NYC’s top ranked public high schools. Each year, thousands of eighth and ninth graders compete to secure coveted spots at these elite schools by taking the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, the SHSAT. While African American and Latino youth constitute 70 percent of the city’s total public school population, at some of these high schools, they represent less than five percent. On the other hand, Asian Americans and whites form supermajorities at all three. In response to these concerns about racial imbalance, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint in September 2012 with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights to challenge the admission policy’s sole reliance on the SHSAT. This documentary will follow a diverse group of students trying to pass the test, as well as the issues surrounding access to a high-quality public education, affirmative action, and the model-minority myth. https://www.kickstarter.com/
Moderator
Justin Krebs
Justin Krebs is political writer, organizer and entrepreneur. He is a campaign director at MoveOn.org, with a focus on economic issues. He is a founder of Living Liberally, the network of progressive social communities across the country and around the world, including Drinking Liberally happy hours, Laughing Liberally comedy shows and Screening Liberally films. He is also the author of “538 Ways to Live, Work and Play Like a Liberal” and an upcoming book with the New Press. This is his 10th Netroots Nation.
Other sessions: Filmmaker Caucus
Panelists
Curtis Chin
Curtis Chin is an award-winning writer and producer who has written for ABC, NBC, Fox, the Disney Channel and more. As a community activist, he co-founded the Asian American Writers Workshop and Asian Pacific Americans for Progress. In 2008, he served on Barack Obama’s Asian American Leadership Council where he participated in helping the campaign reach out to the AAPI community. He has spoken at over 350 colleges and community groups throughout the US and abroad and appeared on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Newsweek and other media outlet.
Szelena Gray
Szelena Gray has spent the last few years in the vanguard of the campaign finance reform movement with projects like Rootstrikers, the New Hampshire Rebellion, and now Lawrence Lessig’s Super PAC to end all Super PACs, MAYDAY.US.
Patrick Lovell
Patrick Lovell started in Hollywood balancing working inside the machine while pursuing an Indy writing career. He would relocate to Park City, Utah where he became an Action Sports producer and would ultimately create Sundance programming. Lovell was recruited to become a Senior Producer on a nationally syndicated television program and was responsible for giving away houses to deserving families across the country. In 2007 the shows funders went belly up over night and it wasn’t long before Lovell went from being at the height of his career to being in the same boat as millions of Americans that included losing his home to foreclosure. Lovell made Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream which is not so much a film about home foreclosure as it is about the foreclosure of the American Dream.
Michael McIntee
Michael McIntee is a former network TV news executive with more than 30 years of broadcasting experience. As one of the founders of The UpTake he organized its groundbreaking crowd sourced live video technology to cover high profile events such as the Republican National Convention in 2008, the Franken/Coleman U.S. Senate election recount in 2008-2009, and the Wisconsin uprising against Governor Walker in 2010.
Since 2010, he and The UpTake have covered the marriage equality battle in Minnesota. He is now making a movie about how LGBT activists turned an almost certain defeat in Minnesota into a triumphant victory and a tipping point in the fight for equal rights.
He is also a radio talk show host and has filled in for Mike Malloy.
Michael is an expert producer, writer, video editor who has a fondness for new technology but denies he is a geek.