Today, the Maddow Blog highlighted the work that one of Fledgling Fund's grantees, Out In The Silence, is doing to really change hearts and minds in unexpected places.  This film, and the unstoppable campaign that Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson have built, continue to show us that stories like these, and the dedication to put this film into the right hands, is an investment we are proud to make.  Check out the blog, here. 

Working Films and The Fledgling Fund in partnership with the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) just wrapped our second Reel Change: Managing Social Issue Film Campaigns workshop in San Francisco. Launched in New York City last December, this series of trainings is open to the field and intended to give individuals the skills to lead creative engagement campaigns for social issue documentary films and related media projects.

We brought together a stellar group of filmmakers, community organizers, and experts in the field of audience engagement. Led by Molly Murphy and Judith Helfand of Working Films and Emily Verellen of The Fledgling Fund, guest instructors included Gillian Caldwell, former director of 1Sky and WITNESS; Sonya Childress, Community Engagement Specialist at Firelight Media; Jen Gilomen, Director of Public Media Strategies at Bay Area Video Coalition; Andy Moore, Distribution Coordinator at Patchworks Films; Jim Miller, Executive Director at Brave New Foundation; and Shaady Salehi, Deputy Director at Active Voice.

Out of 23 participant evaluations, every single one said they recommend this workshop to others.

Some of the rave feedback we've received from attendees include:

• I have deepened my understanding of both the theory and practice of creating community engagement campaigns.
• I gained important new relationships and connections.
• I'm motivated and excited to push forward with tangible ideas and strategies for my engagement efforts. This was a great environment for sharing.
• I loved meeting the other participants. I now have a sense of purpose and vision!
• I am feeling excited, pumped, and inspired that I'm not the only one doing this work and it can be done!
• Thank you for sharing your knowledge, for your commitment to social change, for your energy, and your patience!
• It has been invaluable & comes at the perfect time for me. You hit so many issues we are wrestling with. Thanks!!!
• This is a wonderful opportunity for filmmakers and I greatly appreciate all the thought and work presented to us.

Stay tuned for information about our next Reel Change training, expected to take place on the East Coast in early 2012.

Reel Change participants included: Ada McMahon, Agi Orsi, Andrew Lowenthal, Carol Duffy Clay , Cary McQueen Morrow, Chelo Alvarez-Stehle, Chelsea Matter, Chuck Schultz, Danielle Beverly , Emily Davis, Hadley Dynak, Hannah Rosenzweig, Janis Astor del Valle, Jenne Turner, Judy Branfman, Kate Trumbull, Kathryn Pyle, Kimberly Bautista, Leah Warshawski, Luis Argueta, Nancy Kelly, Nicole Karsin, Patricia Benabe, Rachel Antell, Shannon Carroll, Sheila E. Schroeder, Tricia Creason-Valencia, Wen Lee, Win-Sie Tow

Check out this article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy on the power of documentary film to inspire social change.  The article profiles the work of Gasland to build a movement and spark a new momentum for the fight against fracking.  

The Fledgling Fund congratulates the recipients of the TFI New Media Fund and is cheering them on as they continue to use their tools to inspire people to make social change.  To see the full list of grantees, click here.

Good Pitch 2011 from Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation on Vimeo.

The Fledgling Fund is pleased to continue supporting The Good Pitch. Last week, the latest version of this exciting event took place in San Francisco. Once again, the Good Pitch team filled the room with passionate and dedicated participants. We watched as filmmaking teams shared their stories and their hopes for making real social change with their films. We are thrilled to watch as these films make their way in the world and begin to change hearts and minds.

Don't miss this new video from Fledgling grantee, 10x10. In it, they share their progress and commitment to spreading the story of the power of educating girls.

Today I am sitting at the Marines Memorial Theater at The Good Pitch San Francisco.  This continues to be a community committed to the power of film to inspire social change and we are proud to be a part of it.  While so much magic can happen today at each of the roundtables, the real power of this forum are the connections that happen in the subsequent months.  I am looking forward to watching as each of these films finds their place in the world of social change.

Dear Friends,

This Saturday, the International SlutWalk movement finally comes to New York City. After thousands of women marched along the streets of hundreds of cities around the globe, we will gather in New York City's Union Square together. At The Line Campaign, we recognize that there have been many valid concerns and contentions over the name-- primarily that it doesn't speak to many women of color, or others who are offended or who aren't in a position to parade under a "slut" banner.

"Slut Walk" as a name began as a challenge the notion that what might fall under a contemporary description of "sluttiness"--revealing clothing, flirting, drinking--does not equate consent, and never justifies rape. However, somewhere along the line it became about re-appropriating the word "slut" into an empowering term, something that many women of color have expressed feels dangerous and counter productive to combating a problematic history of racialized sexuality.

SlutWalk was never meant to be divisive--but its controversial name was both a blessing and a curse, gaining media attention, but inciting a politically theatrical debate that veered the movement off course from a universal struggle against victim blaming and started dividing women along race lines.

SlutWalk is a grassroots movement, often spearheaded by young people organizing for the first time. Every movement has its growing pains, and we hope that SlutWalk can work through these contentions and mature into an inclusive and ground-breaking movement that inspires conversations and further organizing that lead to real change.

At The Line Campaign we see the SlutWalk Movement as a tidal wave against rape culture and victim blaming, something that women of all backgrounds need one another's support in resisting. Women have organized across the world, from Toronto to Buenos Aires to Mexico City, Kyrgizstan, and Morocco under the universal agreement that we, as women, have had enough. I hope that you will continue this movement by joining us to march from Union Square at 12 noon sharp; I will be speaking along with representatives from Radical Women, Red Umbrella, Queers for Economic Justice, Domestic Workers United, STARR, Sex Worker Outreach Project, International Socialist Organization, and other independent activists.

In Solidarity,

Nancy Schwartzman, The Line Campaign

For more about critiques of SlutWalk, read this article.

The Fledgling Fund grantee, Good Fortune, won the News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting - Long Form tonight. We congratulate filmmakers Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine for this well-deserved award. This beautiful film has become a spark for discussion about international development theory and practice and we are honored to have played a small part in the impact it has made.