Filmmakers Support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement Around the World.
In 2012 the Occupy movement was an international socio-political movement against social inequality and lack of "real democracy" around the world. The movement’s primary goal was to advance social and economic justice and new forms of democracy. The movement had many different iterations with local groups often having different focuses. Today, just as back at the beginning the movement's prime concerns are how large corporations (and the global financial system) control the world in a way that disproportionately benefits a minority, undermines democracy, and is unstable.
The website was just one iteration of the Occupy Movement. Content is from the site’s 2012 archived pages.
Initially I was in the thick of the Occupy Wall Street Movement camping out in Zuccotti Park, that was located in New York City's Wall Street financial district. The occupiers received global attention and spawned the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. I had to leave before the NYC police forced the protesters out of Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011 to help my parents with their relocation. But I was there for the most part living the resistance. Met a lot of very interesting and significant people, some camped out, some offering services or music, or healing, and I noticed a lot of press. Kind of an existential carnival. One evening, I spotted a familiar face from my web dev days, Bob Sakayama, of TNG/Earthling. He had dragged over a bunch of guys in suits - he was the guest speaker at a forum on Google penalties and the risk of relying on search results. He then tricked them into visiting us - they would def not have come otherwise. I'm not sure they got our message or even understood the issues at play, but glad they got a first hand view instead of what's on tv. By the time my parents were relocated, Zuccotti Park was just a park with business people from the nearby office buildings just wandering by. The protesters, the huge police presence, and all the gawkers, sight seers, and media people were gone. However, a movement had been born and the ripple effected are still being felt today.
Jump ahead to 2020. Still in NYC but have settled down with my own family. Protests are still roiling not only NYC but across the US with the powerful Black Lives Matter movement. Plus we are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Live goes on in the strange world of Covid-19. I have attended some of the protests in Lower Manhattan where we live, but with working at home, helping "home school" our young children, and dealing with just getting all the mundane things that need to get accomplished each day, I am not out there as frequently as I would like. Oops. Got to jump. Time for a video chat with a client. I thought 2012 was crazy, but compared to the present situation is seems in hindsight 2012 was a less fraught period.
A Trip Back to Circa 2012
Started by Toronto producer Sarah Goodman, 134 filmmakers from Canada and the U.S. have signed a petition and created Occupy Filmmakers "to show solidarity with the Occupy Movement," according to a press release issued Wednesday afternoon. James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain), Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes), Peter Lynch (The National Parks Project), and Avi Federgreen (One Week) are among the producers and directors who have put their names on the petition, which voices support for the worldwide Occupy movement. Read the petition at:
Upcoming Events and Flyers
- May 8, 2012 – Occupy Film, Shorts from the Movement
Space 15 Twenty, Los Angeles
8:00PM, Free
- May 16, 18-19 – The Peoples Film Festival, New York City
Opening night May 16 @ Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, 2180 Third Ave.
Festival May 18-19 @ Maysles Cinema, 343 Malcolm X Bvld.
More information about screenings can be found on their website.
Do you have a occupy/film-related event coming up? Drop us an email at occupyfilmmakers@gmail.com with the subject line “ATTN: Events” and we will try and get it on the calendar for you.
We, the undersigned filmmakers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world.
Adrienne Amato, director of A Brief Life
Alan Black, director of Jackpot
Alan Folsom, screenwriter of The Six Million Dollar Man
Alan Zweig, director of Vinyl
Alex Lisman, director of TVACdotCA
Alexandra Halkin, director of Living Juarez
Ali Kamanda, director of Salay
Ali Kazimi, director of Continuous Journey
Andrea Cohen
Andy Robertson, editor of We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Angela Tucker, director of (A)sexual
Ann Rose, producer, former Sundance Channel EP
Annette Manguard, director of Into The Night
Arnold Schulman, writer of Love With the Proper Stranger
Avi Federgreen, producer of One Week
Barbara Green, director of Tashi Jong: A Traditional Tibetan Community in Exile
Barry Greenwald, director of The Experimental Eskimos
Begonya Plaza, screenwriter of The Persistence of Memory
Bill Douglas, director of Anthology of T’ai Chi & Qigong: The Prescription for the Future
Bill Siegel, co-director of The Weather Underground
Bob Boldt, director of It Was 40 Years Ago Today - CDNC68
Bob Yothers, director of Tourne-cave
Brant Kantor, producer of Foreign Letters
Brenda Kovrig, director of Relativity
Brian McKeown, producer of Human Cargo
Brian Stockton, director of My Dinner with Generation X
Carlo Guillermo Proto, director of El Huaso
Charles Lofton, director of O Happy Day
Charlie Phillips, marketplace director of Sheffield Doc/Fest
Charlotte Glynn, director of Rachel Is
Charlotte Lagarde, director of Heart of the Sea
Chris McDonald
Christopher Toussaint, director of Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point
Connie Field, director of Freedom on my Mind
Crystal Kingston, director of Reading the Signs
Daniel Sollinger, producer of California Winter
Daniela Franchi
Danielle DiGiacomo, producer of Best Kept Secret
David Adkin, director of Debt Trap
David Bellinson, co-director of Code 33
David Risk, director of Legends of the Court
Deb Ellis, director of Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Donal Mosher, co-director of October Country
Donald Goldmacher, co-director of Heist
Dustin Lane, director of The Purest Blue
Duygu Eruçman, director of Sokak Sokak
Earl Katz, director of Hacking Democracy
Elisa Paloschi, director of Embracing Voices
Eric Morris Eskenazi, director of Meshuggeneh
Florencia Davidzon, director of the Marching Quixotes
Garret Savage, editor of My Perestroika
Gary Marcuse, director of Waking the Green Tiger
Geoff Arbourne, director of Tin Town
Gilda L. Sheppard, Ph. D, director of Women Together as One
Gisèle Gordon, director of The Tunguska Project
Grace Lee, director of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
Gregory Whitmore, director of Kabul Transit
Hal Hartley, director of The Girl from Monday
Harold Crooks, co-director of Surviving Progress
Heather Croall, director of Sheffield International Documentary Festival
Helene Klodawsky, director of No More Tears Sister
Howard Gertler, producer of Shortbus
Ian O’Brien, director of No Name, Difference
Igor Drlijaca, director of Woman in Purple
Ingrid Kopp, editor-in-chief of Shooting People
J. Robinson Wheeler, director of The Krone Experiment
James Greer, screenwriter of The Spy Next Door
James Schamus, writer and producer of The Ice Storm
Jared Varava, director of Tumbleweed!
Jason Cortlund, writer/co-director of Now, Forager
Jeanie Finlay, director of Sound It Out
Jeanne Crépeau, director of La Fille de Montreal
Jeff Feuerzeig, director of The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Jeffrey Paull, co-editor of Dead Time
Jen Peel, director of Seattle: Icons – Proof They Rocked
Jennifer Abod Ph. D, director of The Edge of Eachother’s Battles:
The Vision of Audre Lorde
Jennifer Baichwal, director of Maufactured Landscapes
Jeremy Pikser, screenwriter of Bulworth
Jesse McKeown, writer of Da Vinci’s Inquest
Jessica Mae Stover, director of Artemis Eternal
Jessica Wolfson, director of Radio Unnameable
Jim Donovan, director of 3 Saisons
Joan Carr-Wiggin, director of If I Were You
John Christou, producer of Sorry, Rabbi
John Walker, director of A Drummer’s Dream
Josh Olson, screenwriter of A History of Violence
Julia Halperin, director of Now, Forager
Julia Kwan, director of Eve and the Fire Horse
Julie Perron, director of Lucie, Timeless Fighter
Julien Nitzberg, director of The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
Justine Shapiro, producer of Promises
Karen Harnisch, producer of We Ate The Children Last
Karen X. Tulchinsky, director of Ms. Thing
Kathy Wazana, director of They Were Promised the Sea
Katie McKenna, co-producer of The Take
Keirda Bahruth, director of Bob and The Monster
Kevin McMahon, director of Waterlife
Khadijah Ford, director
Kit Thomas, director of Burning Down Tomorrow
Larry Kamerman, director of At the Top of My Voice
Laurie Simons, co-producer of The Healthcare Movie
Laurika Harris-Kaye, director
Linda Blackaby, Cinema Projects
Lisa Gildehaus, co-director of Almost Home
Lisa Jackson, director of Savage
Lisa Martin, director of Live the Life I Love
Lisa Menzel, director of Thinking Speed
Liz Marshall, director of Water on the Table
Lorin Wertheimer, writer and producer of Speedie Date
LumiDocs Collective, creators of Gritos En El Cielo
Lydia Justice Stec, director of Sexual Assault in American Culture:
Stories of Strength and Courage in the Real World.
Madison Cawker, director of Lady Bare Knuckles
Maggi Carter, producer of Voices of Palestine
Magnus Isacsson, director of Art in Action
Manara Nivron, director of Next Stop, Life
Mandy J Rose, CollabDocs
Marian Evans, director of Sister Galvan
Marisa Olson, director of The One that Got Away
Mark Achbar, director of The Corporation
Mark Rabinowitz, producer and co-founder of IndieWire.com
Mark Ratzlaff, director of Voodoo
Mark Slutsky, director of Sorry, Rabbi
Mark R. Elsis, director of Love is Our Answer
Mary Thomas, co-director of El Burrito
Mascha & Manfred Poppenk, directors of Grown to Detroit
Mathieu Roy, director of Surviving Progress
Matthew Kohn, director of Call it Democracy
Matthew Pillischer, director of Broken on All Sides
Maureen Gosling, producer of Blossoms of Fire
Maureen Herman, producer of The Justice Tour
Meena Nanji, director of View From a Grain of Sand
Meerkat Media Collective
Michal Goldman, producer of At Home in Utopia
Michael Chandler, director of Knee Deep
Michael Galinsky, cinematographer of Battle for Brooklyn
Michael Goorijan, director of Illusion
Michael Hoolbloom, director of Lacan Palestine
Michael Palmieri, director of October Country
Michael Waglay, co-director of El Burrito
Mike Leggieri, director of Look Out
Mindi White, producer of The Priests
Mona Nicoara, director of Our School
Myriam Verreault, Co-director of West of Pluto
Nancy Kates, co-director of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Nancy Schwartzman, director of The Line
Natalie Johns, director of Music for RAIN: Dig For Fire
Nicholas Lea Bruno, director of Ironlak
Nick De Poncier, producer of Manufactured Landscapes
Nilesh C. Patel, director of Brocket 99 – Rockin’ The Country
Nimisha Mukerji, co-director of 65 Red Roses
Nova Ami, director of Say I Do
Patricio Henriquez, co-director of You don’t like the truth, 4 days inside Guantánamo
Paul Donahue, director of In The Land of Milk and Honey
Paul Haggis, director of Crash
Paul Lovelace, co-director of The Holy Modal Rounders… Bound to Lose
Peter Brauer, producer of Second Skin
Peter Lynch, director of Project Grizzly
Peter Switzer, director of The Door
Pierre Hébert, director of Place Carnot-Lyon (Places and Monuments-2)
Pratibha Parmar, director of Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth
Ray Keller, director of Generosity
Richard Brouillette, director of Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy
Richard Weiner, producer of Searching for Orson
Robert Arnold, director of The Key of G
Robert Greene, director of Kati with an I
Rosalie Bellefontaine, director of The Mayor of Tent City
Rosemarie Reed, director of The Path To Nuclear Fusion:
The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
Rosemary Rawcliffe, director of Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution
Sarah Goodman, director of When We Were Boys
Sarah Zammit, director of Life Inside Out
Sebastian Funke, director of Djambo
Sheila Canavan, producer of Knee Deep
Sidney Peck, screenwriter of Cinema Profound
Simonee Chichester, director of Chichester’s Choice
Stephane Goldsand, director of Leap Before You Look
Stephen Bell, director of The Quartering Act
Steven Gillis, director of This Wrestling Life
Suki Hawley, co-director of Battle for Brooklyn
Susi Newborn, executive director of WIFT NZ
Sylvia Schedelbauer, director of Sounding Glass
Tamás Wormser, director of Travelling Light
Terrie Samundra, director of Kunjo
Terry Sterrenberg, co-producer of The Healthcare Movie
Tess Girard, director of A Simple Rhythm
Thomas Sieben, director of Distanz
Titus Nachbaeur, director of Trans Human
TJ Martin, co-director of Undefeated
Vanessa Renwick, director of Charismatic Megafauna
Velcrow Ripper, director of Scared Sacred
Walter Miale, producer of Deadly Mistakes?
William Gazecki, director of WACO: The Rules of Engagement
Winsome Brown, director of The Violinist
Xandra Castleton, writer of Full Grown Men