Mill Valley Film Festival - How To Use Film to Drive Social Change

Elisabeth Bartlett did a great write-up on the MVFF panel: ACTIVE CINEMA: 
STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE that brought together the amazing panelists below to discuss how film could be used for social change.  Thanks, Elisabeth!

Check out Elisabeth's "Advice for Activist Filmmakers" write-up and festival pics below.

Panelists (in order of first picture):

• Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, filmmaker, A Thousand Suns, executive director, Global Oneness Project.


• Michael Lumpkin, executive director, International Documentary Association.


• Danae Ringelmann, (Moderator) Founder, IndieGoGo IndieGoGo
• Jennifer Siebel Newsom, filmmaker, Miss Representation
• John Morrison, director of CFI Education, 
film programmer. 



Advice for Activist Filmmakers (By Elisabeth Bartlett)

[Excerpt follows.  Read full article on Fest21.com]

"Many documentaries today address activist issues.  Often after seeing such movies, audiences will ask, 'What can we do?' Sunday October 18, closing day of the Mill Valley Film Festival, a panel called: Active Cinema: Strategies for Change addressed how to best inspire audiences to action.  How do we help audiences connect the dots between the experience of watching the film and doing something? How can we inspire activism?  The panelists discussed. 

'You can't just show them the film and leave,' suggested Michael Lumpkin (Executive Director of the International Documentary Association).  'You have to give them info, a website, etc.'  The audience needs something on which to grasp.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Lady of San Francisco andwriter/director/producer of the upcoming documentary Miss Representation, spoke up about the elements of her film that make up what she hopes will be a film that inspires change and action.  'In our case we have tons of facts.  Then you have to have tons of emotion that people can relate to.  Then you have to take the audience on a journey.  And the last thing you have to do isinspire and empower them so that they see that they can affect change and that it's not all doom and gloom.'"

Read full article on Fest21.com.