Join us for Week 6 of the NYWIFT Women Who Dared Documentary Series in partnership with International Documentary Association (IDA) and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A six-week screening series of captivating documentaries by women filmmakers starting on Friday, October 23, 2020 and every Friday to follow.
Stacey Abrams in All In
Week 6: All In: The Fight for Democracy
Watch the film: starting Friday, November 27th throughout the weekend. Film will be sent to you.
Then join us on Monday, November 30th at 1:30PM EST for a conversation with Lisa Cortes and Liz Garbus.
Moderated by Marcia Rock, Director of News and Documentary, NYU Journalism
Free to watch and attend.
Synopsis
All In: The Fight for Democracy is a riveting examination of voter suppression in the United States of America. The film weaves rich archival storytelling with the personal experiences of experts, activists, and would-be voters deprived of their rights. Current activism as well as historical insight expose what corrupted our democracy from the moment it was founded. Every time we the people take a step toward a more just and equal nation — granting rights to the disenfranchised, from women’s suffrage to desegregation — new forces and obstacles emerge that require us to fight for the right to vote once again.
Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and the first female African-American major-party gubernatorial nominee, offers an insider’s look at the patchwork of laws and barriers designed to hinder voting. Many U.S citizens remain unaware of this dangerous threat to their basic right to wield their power and raise their voices at the polls. ALL IN explores fundamental questions: Who gets to participate in our democracy, and who is pushed aside? How can we all fight back? Voting is the cog that makes the machinery of democracy work — and if the machinery breaks for some, it will eventually break for all.
This illuminating film lays out the sweeping argument that many of the problems we have seen over the past several elections are rooted in an issue that has plagued our country from its founding. From our nation’s beginning, laws were designed to suppress certain segments of the population. Furthermore, the film illustrates that voter suppression is a nonpartisan human rights issue, which if solved, would amplify the voices of the disenfranchised and strengthen our democratic republic. This documentary will spark an urgent national conversation and forever change the way Americans understand their right to vote.
Panelists
Lisa Cortés (Co-Director and Producer), is an Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy-winning film producer and celebrated director. The film Precious (2009), which she executive produced, received the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the Sundance Film Festival. Marking the acting debut of Gabourey Sidibe, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards® and won two. The Apollo, a 2019 HBO documentary, explores African-American cultural and political history through the story of the legendary Apollo Theater. Her directorial debut, The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion (2020), traces the impact of street fashion and African American creativity on global cultural trends. Her early career as a music executive was launched at the iconic Def Jam label and Rush Artist Management. She was also vice president of A&R at Mercury Records and founded the Loose Cannon label. Her film productions have received more than 70 international awards and nominations. Cortés, who received her B.A. from Yale University, uses her gift for filmmaking to bring diverse and untold stories to light and has been distinguished by her commitment to empowering inclusive voices.
Liz Garbus (Co-Director and Producer) is a two-time Academy Award®-nominee, two-time Emmy winner, Peabody winner, Grammy nominee, Directors Guild of America nominee, and British Academy of Film and Television Arts-nominated director. Garbus, who graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a major in history and semiotics, has earned a reputation for creating electrifying, archival-driven, historical documentaries that retain all the narrative velocity, artistic craft, and conceptual depth of propulsive, cinéma vérité films. Garbus delves into today’s most hotly debated topics. Her latest series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark premiered on HBO in June 2020. Her narrative feature debut, Lost Girls, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was released on Netflix and in theatres in March. The Fourth Estate, for Showtime, was nominated for a 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series and includes full access to the Russia investigation and much more. Her 2015 feature, Sundance opener, What Happened, Miss Simone?, a Netflix original, was nominated for a 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and took home the Emmy Award for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special. In 2018, HBO premiered Garbus’ documentary, A Dangerous Son, which tracks the lives of three families as they navigate mental illness and the healthcare system. Other credits include: The Innocence Films (Netflix, 2020), Who Killed Garrett Phillips (HBO, 2019), There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (HBO), The Farm: Angola, USA (Academy Award nominee 1998) and many others.
Marcia Rock (Moderator) has produced twelve documentaries since 1984 and received many awards including three local Emmys and several nominations. Her work covers international dilemmas, women’s issues as well as personal perspectives. Her recent film, UnReined is about an Israeli Equestrian champion who started the first Palestinian Equestrian Team. She has two films on veterans, Warriors Return and Service: When Women Come Marching Home (NY Emmy). Her recent short, Soldiers Period, produced with Patty Stotter, grew out of their work with women veterans and was distributed via social media. Rock’s other films on women include, Salt Harvesters of Ghana (2007,) and Daughters of the Troubles: Belfast Stories (1997) that won many awards including the AWRT Grand Documentary Award. Rock has produced several pieces on New York City and writers including McSorley’s New York (1987 Emmy), Village Writers: the Bohemian Legacy (1990), and Reynolds Price: a Writer’s Inheritance (1989). She also made a personal documentary, Dancing with My Father (2003), that ponders how adult love is shaped by what a child learns at home and Surrender Tango (2006) that compares the rules and roles of tango with relationships. Rock is a professor and Director of News and Documentary at the NYU Arthur Carter Journalism Institute. She is co-author with Marlene Sanders of Waiting for Prime Time: The Women of Television News. Her work has been featured on public and cable television. Her films are currently in distribution with Cinema Guild, Alexander Street, amazon.com and Women Make Movies.
Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for funding for the
NYWIFT Women Who Dared Documentary Series.
The NYWIFT Women Who Dared Documentary Series is presented in partnership with International Documentary Association (IDA) and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
A six-week screening series of captivating documentaries by women filmmakers starting on Friday, October 23, 2020 and every Friday to follow.
This screening series is part of NYWIFT’s Creative Workforce Summit scheduled October 20-23, 2020. This year’s theme celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote and recognize the contributions made by Women Documentary Makers that document creators of social, cultural and economic change in history.
Additional films to be announced soon.
A special thank you to our Summit supporters:
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NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
