Our last Film Night held on May 7th was Pro-Choice: Rights and Access, an exclusive screening and conversation with Barbara Attie, the award-winning director of the short documentary Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa which offers a powerful and thought-provoking insight into the barriers many American women face in exercising their reproductive rights.
Our mission is to screen documentaries about the USA. We always have a wide range of documentaries and topics under consideration. Share your recommendations by emailing us at [email protected] We welcome new members joining us to help make Film Nights flourish!
About the film: see Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa.
In this award winning documentary, we are in the room with counselors for a Philadelphia helpline that offers financial support to cover abortion costs. We hear them responding to the nonstop calls from women and teens who seek to end a pregnancy but cannot afford to do so..
Joining us will be Barbara Attie, a co-director of the film for a conversation about the film and the issues it raises.
Find out more about Barbara Attie and her co-directors here
About the Film Night: Join the conversation with Barbara Attie, the award-winning director of the short documentary Abortion Helpline: This is Lisa. Take this opportunity to engage in an important and timely discussion of key and pressing issues facing American women: the unrelenting struggle to secure the basic right to exercise control over their own bodies, health and the choice whether to have children.
The Panel: Stephanie Ryde, DAUK Secretary and former co-chair of the DAUK Women’s Caucus, will chair the after-screening discussion. Asha Subas is a member of the DAUK Executive Committee and Leader of the Immigration Group of the DAUK Policy Network Committee and has a substantial interest in the intersection of violence against women and immigration. Salli Swartz, has been an active leader in Democrats Abroad for over 15 years, is currently a member of the DA Global Women’s Caucus and its Steering Committee and Chair of its Reproductive Justice Action Team, as well as a Democrats Abroad France Voting Representative. Salli is a former Chair of the Global Women’s Caucus and has served in DA France as counsel and Vice Chair. Read more about them here.
To book your place: rsvp here
Thanks to Red Owl and Women Make Movies for a license to screen to our global audience and their generous assistance in making this Film Night happen.
Films under Consideration
We regularly review and consider a large number of documentaries on a wide range of topics for our Film Nights. If you wish to recommend a documentary, please contact us at [email protected]
About the film: see Participant media
This film is both timely and a call to action! Gerrymandering – the drawing of districts in a way to gain partisan advantage – is its focus. After the 2008 election, Republicans developed a strategy and devoted resources to gaining control of state governorships and legislatures with the specific objective of controlling the process of redistricting. In 2010, the Republican party launched REDMAP (Redistricting Majority Project) which was a well-funded and technologically sophisticated effort to change the electoral map and thereby representation in key swing states in which Democratic voters were the majority. As the film points out the result was one of ‘greatest electoral manipulations in U.S. history’.
These efforts were extraordinarily effective, but were not left unchallenged. David Daley, author of RatF**ked spoke to DAUK in 2017 and gave full details of the project and how it works to skew representation and fundamentally challenge the foundations of our democracy,
Voters have fought back – using court challenges and ballot initiatives – to contest the maps and the practice itself. This film tells the story of the Michigan grassroots movement to put an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the ballot.
About the Film Night
We hope to have David Daley, author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count (2017) and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy (2020) as the after-screening speaker in discussion with our DAUK Voting Rights experts.
Reminder!
Always remember that voting in the down-ballot state contests is critical! Governors, Attorney Generals as well as state legislatures play key roles for voting rights in general and in redistricting plans. Remind your family and friends that filling in the 2020 Census is vital to ensuring that everyone is counted!
Watch this space for updates!
After Lockdown? An exception to the rule that we only screen documentaries! The Film Committee and DAUK LGBT+ Caucus were in the final stages of planning a big in-person event with Lance Black, the Oscar award-winning scriptwriter for Milk. Then Covid 19 struck!
