About
About Films for Action
At an International Level:
We've created this website to provide a portal to the best independent news and socially conscious films we find online. With hundreds of videos scattered across the internet on various websites, both obscure and mainstream, we wanted to create a site that catalogs the best of these films all in one place. Eventually we hope the site becomes the definitive place to go to watch activist-issue films online, providing a reliable and accessible source for alternative information.


At the Local Level:
On the ground, Films for Action is working to create information channels in Lawrence that will inform, connect, and inspire action at a community level.

We screen documentaries at Liberty Hall regularly throughout the year. With each film we launch an accompanying educational and action-oriented campaign to address the issues presented by the films. We air films on our local public Access TV channel, Sunflower Cable channel 99. And over the last two years we've bought over 50 educational films, which we make available to everyone in Lawrence to watch and screen in their own neighborhoods for free. People can browse what films we have in our Lending Library section.

All in all, through the screenings, public access TV, this website, and our Lending Library, we hope to provide an information and resource network that will reduce the Lawrence community's dependence on corporate media, providing more meaningful and reliable ways to stay informed on the issues that matter.



What we're about:
We believe a healthy, independent media is essential to a healthy democracy, and that today it is clear we have neither. But the problem of the media affects every issue we care about. Whether we're talking about corporate harm, government corruption, peak oil, environmental collapse, the war in Iraq, or the war on working class people here at home - the corporate consolidation of the mass media in our country will always impede any efforts we take to create and find solutions. By creating our own communication channels we can break the bottleneck they have on the flow of information and cut right to the root of the problem.

With a robust, independent, and diverse local media network, we'll be able to launch more ambitious campaigns and win them more effectively. We'll be able to organize our community's latent collective power into a powerful movement for social and environmental justice. And we'll finally see the tipping point where our energies spark a creative and widespread renaissance of sustainable innovation, new thinking, and new ways of life.

At its essence, we'll be able to make real change happen for ourselves and for the earth. It all starts with an independent media.




Public Film Screening History
Attendees Date
Uncounted 152 June 02, 2008
Black Gold 083 May 19, 2008
Crude Impact 105 April 21, 2008
War Made Easy 121 March 19, 2008
What a Way to Go: life at the end of empire 177 November 05, 2007
Oil, Smoke & Mirrors 258 September 11, 2007
Go Organic! 261 August 23, 2007
Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price 165 August 6, 2007
Sir! No Sir! 160 June 25, 2007
The Future of Food 405 June 05, 2007
The End of Suburbia 180 April 23, 2007
Weapons of Mass Deception 087 March 14, 2007
Loose Change: 2nd Edition 360 September 11, 2006
Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price 340 June 05, 2006




Why Films for Action?
Over the years, a growing number of people have become aware that the current information channels that exist today continually fail to inform people of the most vital matters that demand our attention. Mainstream news is sensationalized, watered down, slanted for profit, or all together irrelevant to the daily concerns of average people. Whether it concerns our food, the environment, energy security, media consolidation, or U.S. foreign policy, the information we need to become more engaged, participatory citizens within our community and country remain out of sight.

A healthy democracy was never meant to work without the participation of its citizens, and we cannot participate in positive ways if we are not properly informed. This was the original function of the media - to provide a free and open "marketplace for ideas". The media existed for the public good, and today’s media system no longer serves the public. The media system today fails us in almost every way.

In recognition of this, Films for Action is working to reduce the Lawrence community’s dependence on this failed media system by creating local alternatives. Through public screenings, public access TV, our lending library program, and this website, we’re working to build an independent, grass-roots media network that will provide more meaningful and reliable ways to stay informed on the issues that matter.

We believe an informed public is the most effective step to creating a vibrant, healthy and sustainable society, and that ultimately is our end ward goal. Creating an independent, democratic media is simply the first step.




Who created this website?
Eli Dragen did the amazing back-end HTML and database work. He's a badass freelance website developer whose other works can be found at www.dragendesign.com.

Mason Umholtz did the suburb-o job on the visual front, envisioning the look and feel of the site. He also created our logo and does all the visual work for our movie flyers. To see more of his work, visit www.masonu.com.

Tim Hjersted handled all the other little bits and pieces of creation, including concept design, writing, site layout, and content creation - adding new films, blogs, and the like. For more on his work, check out the rest of this website!






Press Articles
6/2/2006 - The High Cost of Low Price - The Lawrence Journal World
6/1/2006 - Think a 2nd Wal-Mart in Lawrence is Inevitable? Not Necessarily - The Lawrencian
6/7/2006 - Review: Film encourages civic action - The Topeka Capital-Journal
9/8/2006 - Loose Change - The Lawrence Journal World
9/11/2006 - New documentary plays out Sept. 11 conspiracy theories - The Kansan
3/12/2007 - Journalist Danny Schechter wants to protect you from your media - Lawrence.com
3/26/2007 - Local artists attempt to subvert your cable box via public access - Lawrence.com
4/21/2007 - Cultural activist group’s leader seeks city focus on conservation - The Lawrence Journal World
8/2/2007 - Action Movie - The Pitch
8/20/2007 - “Go Organic!” film festival slings locally grown food and sustainable cinema - Lawrence.com
8/22/2007 - Organic food film series comes to town - The Kansan
8/24/2007 - Filming Nature’s Liberty - MotherEarthLiving.com
9/11/2007 - ‘Oil, Smoke & Mirrors’ offers alternate views on 9/11 attacks, oil, foreign policy - The Kansan
7/4/2007 - An Interview with Films for Action - The Lawrencian
12/1/2007 - Best of Kansas City - Best Film Activist - The Pitch
4/8/2008 - Who's Afraid of Peak Oil? A local look at a global scare - Lawrence.com

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