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The CALL FOR CHANGE PROJECT
2008 Call For Producers and Filmmakers
  
Supported in part by the the Asian Women Giving Circle, the Funding Exchange,
the North Star Fund, and the Ford Foundation. Some pieces produced with support
from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the
Arts.
The current CALL FOR CHANGE project builds on the success of the two Calls for
Action that Third World Newsreel initiated: the CALL TO MEDIA ACTION (2001-2), a
post -9/11 series, and the 2005 CALL FOR CHANGE series. Both Calls resulted in
16 shorts. The 2001-2 series aired on local public and cable television
networks, streamed on the internet, have been used by hundreds of community
groups, classes and festivals, and shown in venues ranging from the Museum of
Modern Art to Manhattan Neighborhood Network. The 2005 Call for Change Series
was made up of 16 pieces by 14 directors, screened at BAM and MoMA, with pieces
airing on WNET, MNN and Free Speech TV as well as the Tribeca Film Festival. For
a description of the
2005 Call for Change series, please click HERE.
What is the CALL FOR CHANGE Project?
The CALL FOR CHANGE project brings together socially conscious mediamakers of
color to produce short videos on the state of America, focusing on current U.S.
domestic and international policies and their impact on the human rights, civil
liberties and the livelihoods of immigrant groups, low-income groups and
communities of color here in NYC. The topics range from the elections, the war
on terror and the foreign and domestic impact on human rights and immigrant
life, to the "jobless recovery" and the rollbacks in affirmative action and
women's rights. The goal is the production of a series of short, vivid, low-cost
videos which are broadly distributed and exhibited on air and on the internet,
while promoting their use in community and classroom situations. The 2005 CALL
FOR CHANGE project recruited mediamakers to produce sixteen short, provocative
videos, under the supervision of a coordinating producer . This package of short
videos is being distributed by Third World Newsreel freely to broadcast and
internet exhibitors and at cost to schools and community groups. The hope of
this project is to spark discussions throughout the nation's living rooms,
classrooms and community groups on these topical issues, while presenting the
views and concerns of groups and communities often marginalized in mainstream
media.
RATIONALE AND BACKGROUND
Despite the hundreds of television channels now available, the voices of
immigrant, minority and low-income communities are mostly missing from the
airwaves - except as images of victims or criminals - and their concerns and
proactive work often ignored. CALL FOR CHANGE, by working with progressive
mediamakers of color and their constituent communities, and through facilitating
the production , distribution and outreach of a series of video shorts, will
bring some of these unheard voices to a national stage.
At this time especially, extraordinary situations are evolving both
internationally and nationally that are having great impact on our communities -
and require responses. This CALL FOR CHANGE project is an attempt to arm
communities with discussion points to make responses - by covering
underrepresented voices in pieces that can be easily used, and provoke
thoughtful dialogue.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING:
If you are a media maker working on a social justice issue short (5-15 minutes)
that
- is any style (doc/narr/exp) in nature,
- has a compelling story of an individual or group from your community, or of a
community that you are connected to, that has probably not been addressed by
either mainstream media or on a convention floor,
- that addresses the question of "what is the state of your community?" - the
problems, the needs and desires of your character/community
- and you are specifically interested in participating in a project does not bring
fame or money, but will be broadly and freely distributed and will raises
discussion and hopefully action - CONTACT: workshop@twn.org See Below for
further information.
CONTENT OF THE CALL FOR CHANGE PROJECTS
The CALL FOR CHANGE project aims to air the voices and concerns of
communities of color, low-income and other marginalized communities on the
topics such as:
- How our communities see the state of the world today
- What's the state of our lives right now? What do our communities want and what
are we doing about it?
- How our communities see themselves in relation to things like the electoral
process and party politics.
- U.S. international policies and their impact on the human rights, civil
liberties and the livelihoods of immigrant groups, low-income groups and
communities of color.
- The Iraq war and occupation.
- Other wars and human rights issues that impact on peoples lives here from the
Middle East to Korea to Sudan and beyond.
- U.S. domestic issues: the economy and the so-called "jobless recovery" and the
rollbacks in affirmative action and women's rights, gay rights, etc.
- Katrina's Aftermath - what grassroots groups in and outside the Gulf coast are
doing to survive and rebuild.
TWN , to the extent that it can, has facilitated some NYC productions of
these shorts, though is unable to offer more than distribution support and
potentially some post production for out of NY productions. Through the vigorous
distribution and exhibition of such shorts on public television, public access,
satellite and cable networks, TWN plans to ensure that the CALL FOR CHANGE
project will allow more voices to be heard and discussed, voices often
marginalized or silenced, particularly in this period of changing civil
liberties.
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