Films are an effective way to engage new audiences, communicate dynamic ideas and provoke conversation. See short segments of films that seek to influence the debate, learn about the work and share thoughts on impact, distribution, partnerships and the potential to turn reel action into real action.  Lineup subject to change.

Tony and Janina’s American Wedding – Tony & Janina’s American Wedding follows a Chicago Polish family through the red tape of the current U.S. immigration system. Breaking out of the negative media stereotype of the undocumented, this film tells the human rights story of post-9/11 that every undocumented immigrant in America faces today. The film became a clear agent for change and breaking news story when the Wasilewski family was reunited on U.S. soil on August 8, 2011.  Award winning filmmaker Ruth Leitman will screen a short epilogue teaser for the new version and show how the film and outreach were used to create change.

Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah - From Home Front, a series of mini-portraits of Palestinians and Israelis involved in nonviolent protest in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, comes the personal story of Mohammed, a Palestinian teenager whose family is forced to give up part of their home and live under the same roof as a family of settlers. He comes of age in the face of unrelenting tension with his neighbors and unexpected cooperation with Israeli allies in his backyard. Produced by Just Vision, the award-winning team that created Budrus and Encounter Point. 

Mission of Mermaids – Mission of Mermaids invokes our mythical connection to the sea. Director Susan Rockefeller takes a personal approach, based on her love for the oceans, using the metaphor of the mermaid. The film describes the facts of mis-use: ocean acidification, over-fishing, and pollution. MOM opens a dialogue about changing the human relationship to the sea, knitting our past reverence for nature with the urgent need to change course. Featured in the film are many ocean stewards—artists and activists who advocate change and educate the public on making choices in their daily lives to improve the health of the sea.

Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail - When Dr. Goddess gets arrested for lying down on a development site in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, all heaven and hell break loose! This theater production is an inter-generational celebration of the Civil Rights Movement, starring “four little girls” with an emphasis on sports obsession and corporate greed.

Panelists: Angela Alston, Jessica Devaney, Kimberly 'Dr. Goddess' Ellis, Ruth Leitman

Using the mobile phone, text messaging, phone calls and mobile web, to connect with supporters and drive meaningful action to affect change.

The training will start with an overview of the mobile ecosystem and a example campaigns. We’ll focus on the aspects of mobile that produce the best results for the organization and include specific data as well as aggregate data from the leading organizations.

From there we will build a simple mobile campaign and test it out in real time. We’ll end the session with Q&A as well as a discussion of how mobile will be used in the 2012 election and beyond. This session will speak to organizers that are beginners or experienced with mobile.

Trainers: Michael Sabat

Our moderated issue caucuses are aimed at forming greater strategic alliances on progressive issues including the environment, labor, LGBT community, immigration, women’s issues, social justice and education.

Sponsored by Ploughshares Fund.

Our moderated issue caucuses are aimed at forming greater strategic alliances on progressive issues including the environment, labor, LGBT community, immigration, women’s issues, social justice and education.

Check out the Award winning online radio show This Week in Blackness RADIO #TWIBRADIO Featuring Elon James White (Creator of This Week in Blackness, MSNBC, VH1) Political Strategist L. Joy Williams (NY1, TWiB! News Coordinator) and Aaron Rand Freeman (Editor, 2Cents, TWiB!) tackling the latest in politics, race and much, much more.

Panelists: Aaron Freeman, Elon James White, L. Joy Williams

Join Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Ilyse Hogue, along-term netroots activist and a columnist for The Nation and CNN, for a conversation about the intersection of educational opportunities and economic dignity, and how we as progressives can get more involved.

Panelists: Ilyse Hogue, Randi Weingarten

Some of 2012′s most exciting races involve strong, progressive women who are leading the national conversation on not only on women’s issues but also things like the economy and LGBT rights.

Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono and Washington’s Darcy Burner are each known for standing up for workers, the middle class and equal opportunity for all. That’s why we’re excited to have the three of them on the big stage at Netroots Nation.

In a Friday lunchtime session moderated by the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel, Warren, Hirono and Burner will address the past year’s growing War on Women and the GOP war on the middle class. They’ll discuss what playing offense looks like for women and how election wins this fall will translate to policy victories in 2013 and beyond.

Lunch generously provided by Buy4.

2012 and the War on (and for) Women

Storified by Netroots Nation · Fri, Jun 08 2012 13:39:30

Led by: Amanda Terkel

Panelists: Darcy Burner, Rep. Mazie Hirono, Elizabeth Warren

This year, as part of the official conference schedule, Netroots Nation in collaboration with Progressive Congress will host a special networking event for attendees to meet legislative and campaign staffers and exchange information for future collaboration and communication.

Netroots Nation is the largest (and only) gathering of online progressive activists of its kind. Every year, 2,000 attendees—bloggers and activists, leaders of advocacy organizations and labor unions, elected officials and members of the traditional media—attend. Attendees are thought-leaders who have built significant networks through which they support political candidates and policies. They are well-educated, affluent and politically active (92 percent say they donate to campaigns or progressive organizations; 90 percent participate in online activism).

While the whole conference is a chance to meet with influencers and thought-leaders, this networking event is specifically designed to give the staff members of elected officials a chance to chat in a more intimate setting with bloggers.

Staffers should bring packets that contain some information about the Representative and their district and a few short paragraphs talking about the issues they are focusing on in their office legislatively. If you’re a staffer, please RSVP below. If you’re a blogger just show up! (we’ll be expecting you, given the nature of the conference….)

STAFFER RSVP

What: Netroots Nation Staffer/Blogger Mixer
Location:TBD, Rhode Island Convention Center
Date/Time: Friday, June 8, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

All Netroots Nation attendees are welcome to participate, but the focus of this event is strengthening relationships between bloggers and professional staff with a particular focus on Congress.

Questions? e-mail the NN team here.

At the River I Stand is a powerful documentary that reconstructs the two months in Memphis, TN in 1968 leading to the tragic death of Martin Luther King Jr., the climax of the civil right movement, and the 65-day strike of 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers.  Dr. King saw an opportunity to link this struggle to his nationwide Poor People’s Campaign and challenge the economic power structure of the South. In workers history, this strike has achieved an almost mythical quality since it brought public-sector unionism to the south and proved that the civil rights and workers rights movements could be merged.

Led by: Larry Hanley

Panelists: Mike Elk

Our moderated issue caucuses are aimed at forming greater strategic alliances on progressive issues including the environment, labor, LGBT community, immigration, women’s issues, social justice and education.

Join us in the exhibit hall or online for a Google+ Hangout where Tom Periello (Center for American Progress Action Fund) will be interviewed by Alyssa Rosenberg (ThinkProgress).

The progressive moment often focuses on engagement with communities of color. From GOTV to social justice work, a main challenge is moving beyond activating voters on our issues to truly organizing and motivating the community. This training seeks to equip progressive organizers with tools necessary to avoid common challenges when organizing and working in communities of color. Understanding and assessing community needs, effective messaging and avoidance of tokenism will be explored. Using a lens of reproductive rights and feminism, case studies in American Indian, Latino and African-American communities will be explored. This session is particularly timely, because we have seen how reproductive rights in communities of color are under attack using the banner of benevolence and protection.

Trainers: Erica Scott Pacheco